Gray fox chewing/scent marking twigs.
#nature#outdoors#grayfox#foxes

I'm thinking of summer on this cold winter's day. During the summer Yellow bellied sapsuckers will feed on sap from different trees. When making their drill holes, they often produce holes in a horizontal row.
I cannot definitively prove these are from a sapsucker.
#nature#outdoors#sapsucker#birds

Needle ice is produced via capillary action when the ground temperature is above freezing while the air temperature is below freezing.
#nature#outdoors#ice

Baby got back

A burl on an oak tree. This knotty growth could have started as a gall from bacteria, fungus, or insect. This particular burl was quite bulbous. Woodworkers are said to appreciate these burls for the unique beauty of the grain pattern
#nature#outdoors#trees#burl

SoCal dog loving a little fresh snow in the Northeast.
#nature#outdoors#dogs

Red bark phenenom shown on hemlock trees in the Southern tier of central NYS. It's believed this coloration is caused by algae on the trees bark.
#outdoors#nature#trees
#phenenom

flat-branched tree-clubmoss (Dendrolycopodium obscurum) was traditionally used in wreath making, but is now protected (in NYS) due to overharvesting.
#nature#outdoors#plants#moss

Sunset near a beaver pond in central NYS.
#nature#outdoors#landscape
#sunset

A beautiful sunrise from a few days ago in Central NY.
#nature#outdoors#sunrise

A young whitetail deer feeding on Hemlock tips.
#nature#outdoors#deer

Today, while fern-questing, I came up on a delightful Christmas fern. The Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) is a native plant to the eastern US. This fern is often found in hardwood forests under the shade of maple or beech trees. More information in the pics.
#nature#outdoors#plants#ferns

A curious young whitetail deer checking out a new game camera.
#nature#outdoors

A group of pine needles is called a fascicle. Here are some closeup looks at 2 common pines in NYS, the white pine (Pinus strobus) and red pine (Pinus resinosa). An easy way to distinguish between them is the number of needles each fascicle has. More information in the pic's.
#nature#outdoors

2 galls with different stories. The first is an oak gall that was likely formed from a wasp laying it's egg inside the oak tree. The second is a goldenrod gall that has likely been pecked open by a chickadee search for the larva inside.
#nature#outdoors

A beautiful example of a phenomenon called marcescence. This beech tree (Fagus grandiflora) holding onto its leaves throughout winter. A treat to the ears on a windy day.

2 bird's nests (located in the same bush) filled with Rosehips and seeds, believed to have been stashed by field mice. The first nest is about 5 feet off the ground while the second is about 18 inches above the ground. The last picture shows the bush with both nests.