Diario del proyecto St. Thomas' on the Bayou

St. Thomas' on the Bayou, Monroe, LA (32.539380, -92.068717)
0833-0856am
60°F, 81% humidity, wind 4mph NE

General Observations and Birds:
Blue sky, a few cirrus clouds. Birds' songs were filling the slightly doggy-smelling air (someone was having a walk around the 1/3 mile walking path). When I arrived, there was a chunky fox squirrel sitting on the ground in a sunny patch beside a pine tree and there were eight dark-eyed juncos and one pine warbler pecking and hopping about in the parking lot/car park. Avian singers included: tufted titmouse, Carolina chickadee, red-bellied woodpecker, Cooper's hawk (from the southern part of the land), American robin and a wood duck (from the bayou). I saw "Cooper" flying around the trees on the northern edge and I had an overflight by a great blue heron. When I was examining a branch with its lichen, a robin perched on a branch in the oak tree quite close to me. We greeted each other and then he/she went on his/her way.

Plants:
Spring has sprung and I observed the following flowering: violets, dogwoods, dandelions (some in flower/some with seed heads), tiny bluets, southern bluets, spring beauties, wisteria, azaleas, clovers, roses, dewberries, and crossvines. The crossvine flowers smell delicious: like a cross between curry and chocolate. The daffodils have finished their show for now.
Leaves are out and are coming out on the muscadines, sweetgums, black cherry and oaks.
Boxelder and oaks have catkins, some falling to the ground occasionally.

Fungi:
Parmotrema and Teloschistes lichens, dried Exidia, Stereum and Trametes were on the fallen deciduous branches.

Insects:
Crane flies were bumbling about.

Amphibians:
Cricket frogs were calling from the western bank of the bayou.

70° F, 90% humidity, wind 9mph S, overcast and sprinkling. High-energy day. Storm predicted last night but did not come. Ground soggy from previous rain.

Cooper's hawk has returned! Calling from trees on S of property (Merlin app confirmed). Other birds heard calling: American robin, tufted titmouse, pine warbler, northern cardinal, Carolina chickadee, song sparrow, mourning dove, blue jay, Carolina wren, ruby-crowned kinglet, white-throated sparrow, house sparrow, red-bellied woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, fish crow.

Fungi: Exidia with ruffle lichen together, Stereum, brown-toothed crust fungus on fallen deciduous branches. Amanita sp on SE side of an oak tree that smelled of potatoes. Small white fuzzy patches growing on the soil in several places throughout the grounds: (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/148897271). Agaricales spp (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/148899205) in the lawn to the SW of the church. Club-like tuning fork on a couple of fallen pine branches. Checked that Mycena epipterygia had gone from pines and it had; noted it was still around in January.

Plants with leaves and flowers: Eastern redcedar, pines, Japanese camelia (reddish pink flowers--some still on bushes, others on the ground below), crossvine, violet (two purple flowers found), blackberries, lyreleaf sage, deadnettles (pinkish-purple flowers), mosses on bases of trees, woodsorrels, forsythia flowering (yellow flowers), daffodils flowering W of path near bayou.

Millipede snoozing in the soil between tree roots. I gently poked it and it moved a little bit.

84°F, 61% humidity, wind gusts 14 miles an hour NW. A few fluffy clouds dotted on the horizon. A lot of pine straw has fallen and leaves and acorns. The top quarter of the oaks are rusty or yellow. The crape myrtles' leaves to the northwest are red or have fallen. The cypresses are glowing orange in the evening sun. Little midges are hovering in columns, and micromoths are flitting about. The black cherries near the pavilion have half of their leaves, and half of the remaining leaves are yellow. The Stereum on the northern branch of the willow oak to the NE of the pavilion looks dry, but the branch is still hanging in there. Acorns are hitting the ground and the pavilion every now and then. I only heard a couple of cheeps from a bird, but I'm not sure what kind it was. The wind must have things keeping their heads down. A possible oak bracket fungus is growing on a stump to the south of the pavilion.

38 degrees F, 76% humidity, wind 1 mph NNE (feels constant), cloudless, no rain since 9/10/22. Steam fog on the eastern bank moving quickly in westerly direction. The bayou's reflection is unbroken except for the occasional ripple made by its unseen inhabitants.
Lots of brown pine straw and oak, sweetgum and elm leaves on the parking lot, path and under the trees. Pine cones scales are scattered everywhere. Orange acorns from white oak are crushed on the path. The outer edges of Sweetgum trees turning reddish, Tupelo leaves 50% yellow. Some goldenrod still have flowers. Cypress trees are a rusty color with plenty of dusty-gray/green cypress balls hanging from their branches. Maples have lovely red keys. Red oak leaves on the trees on the eastern bank of the bayou are starting to fade and turn brown. A new hole has been made on the north side of a water oak. The tree is several feet from the southwest corner of the pavement that extends behind the church, near the bank. A long line of sap is running from the hole (about 15ft up) almost to the ground. The hole is about 2 inches across.
Micromoths are hovering above the recently frosted grass into the sunshine.
Two Fox Squirrels are scampering across pine branches, knocking off pieces of bark as they go.
Downy woodpecker, pine warbler, two mockingbirds, blue jay, two titmice, Carolina chickadee, fish crow, red-winged blackbird, red-bellied woodpecker, and Northern cardinal calling. Two black-bellied whistling ducks settling in a tree on the western bank.
Lichen and crust fungi on fallen branches, but nothing new obvious.

57 degrees, 87% humidity, wind 1 mph NNE, cloudless morning. A cold front came through but no rain. It's cold in the shade.
Overflight of three Kildeer, all calling as they flew NNW up the bayou. Northen Parula, house sparrow, tufted titmouse, Carolina chickadee, blue jay, pileated woodpecker, Nothern mockingbird, Northern Cardinal, Mourning dove, black-bellied whistling ducks, downy woodpecker, Carolina wren, brown thrasher, pine warbler calling. Three jays fighting. Eight black-bellied whistling ducks flying around trees on the W bank of Bayou Desiard. Great Egret roosting on a Cypress tree.
Lots of raccoon prints just south of the pavilion, more on E side of church in the sand to the S of the parking lot. Fox squirrel fussing at something below is oak tree; I couldn't see what.
Only 5% of crape myrtle blossoms left. Leaves on camelia starting to yellow, 25%. Smooshed red oak acorns and pine cones scales on the walking path. Poison ivy turning orange/red by the Bayou. A few roses left on the bushes behind the church.
Slime mold on NNW base of pine near parking lot. Stereum complicatum on fallen branches in SE of property, covered with fuzzy brown fungus.
Very tiny (1mm) tick on my phone.

8-8:15 AM. 74°, 88% humidity, wind 1 mph from the northwest. No rain since 10 Sep.
Many holes dug into pine straw around pine trees where Strobilomyces had been.

Carolina chickadee, Carolina wren, pileated woodpecker, northern cardinal, downy woodpecker, blue jay, duck species, black bellied-whistling ducks on western bank, red-bellied woodpecker, pine warbler.
Cicadas buzzing but only once.
10% blossoms still on crepe myrtle, 10% leaf-yellowing on sweetgum, the same amount fallen.
Pisolithus, Stereum and Lycoperdon remain in situ. The latter have all dried and have puffed or are puffing their spores.

66 degrees, 88% humidity, wind 4mp SW, cloudless day. No precip since Sunday.
Three Boletes and three species of Amanita and two slime molds up since Sunday.
Bird species calling: Belted Kingfisher, Northen Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, Pine Marbler, Blue Jay, duck species.
Acorns hitting the pavillion roof.
Crepe Myrtles have about 50% of their blossoms left. Some brown leaves on the ground (10%), Sweetgum/Oak.
Cicada shells on trees and a wing in the grass.
Squirrels have been busy feeding on pinecones.