Leave Nothing But Footprints – #7 Chesapeake Forest Lands
This is my contribution for Heavens Sunshine’s weekly challenge, “One Step At A Time”.
So come along and hike with me, one step at a time!
Chesapeake Forest Lands, North Tara Rd, Federalsburg, Maryland
On my recent birding post Spring Warblers and More – May 9, this will share one of the four forest lands’ tracts Cristina and I birded that morning for the Dorchester County Bird Count.
The Chesapeake Forest Lands currently consists of 75,376 acres divided into 187 Management Units (Complexes) distributed across six counties on Maryland’s eastern shore. This includes more than 6,000 acres of wetlands and comprise portions of 23 separate watersheds.
These lands contain established populations of 150 threatened and endangered species, as well as being abundant with deer, turkey and waterfowl. Chesapeake Forest Lands are also dual-certified for sustainable forest management.
And, obviously, they are amazing for hiking!
We were walking this specific trail in hopes of locating a recent sighting of a Barred Owl to add for the day’s count. Unfortunately, we didn’t find one.
The late morning in this deep forest was cool and crisp, only a couple birds were singing. It was a wonderful leisure forest walk.
As we kept our eyes peeled for anything and everything of interest besides birds, Cristina spotted something new to us both and quite pretty!
Do you know what this is below?
I thought it was a flower of some type. Boy, was I wrong!
If you, too, don’t know, this is actually a Wool Sower Wasp Gall. What??!!
I’ve since learned these galls are found at low level, typically less than six feet from the ground, on freshly leafed-out White Oak, just as this one. They are found across the eastern and central United States and into southeastern Canada.
Per Maryland DNR’s Wildlife & Heritage Service, “The female wasp lays an egg in the stem of a White Oak tree. When the young hatch, an enzymic reaction takes place that causes the tree to form this Wool Sower gall. If you were to take this apart, you would see tiny seed-like structures that house the baby wasps.”
The galls do not harm the host trees, so the recommended practice is simply to leave them alone to complete their life cycle.
Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me!
Take a hike, short or long, one step at a time.
Mother Nature promises to reward you.
And please remember~~
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.
Bay Photos by Donna 
What an inviting trail!
This precious environment is where we need to take our children and grandchildren so they can begin to understand why it is so important to keep it protected.
Of all the gall! You made me learn something new. Now my head hurts.
—>Coffee
Thank you, Wally! Exactly, our children are Mother Nature’s future. Sorry the gall caused a little head pain, but glad I shared something new with you! 😉 These are in Florida too!
What a wonderful trail and an inspiring post. I loved the calm forest mood and learning about the Wool Sower Wasp Gall, Mother Nature is full of surprises. Thank you for sharing this beautiful walk.
Good way of killing time!
Absolutely!
Thanks for the stroll
You’re welcome!
What a beautiful forest – with or without an owl photo! Great pics, Donna.
Thank you, Egidio! We were disappointed about no owl sighting, but our county bird club has scheduled an evening “owl prowl” for June 6. We know there’s a nest somewhere around there! 😉 I’ve been on owl prowls before, they are pretty cool!
A wool sower gall! Well nature has so many surprises. A flower, yes but wasp eggs how amazing! Thank you for showing us.
I just love finding Mother Nature’s surprises, and I know you do too! When we’re walking along, there is so much to really see, if we just take a moment to look. That’s why we carry our cameras to click the memory! 😉
Beautiful green in the forest. I had no idea about galls! Now I’ll be looking for them on my next hike. 😁
The forest smelled wonderfully fresh too, it was truly lovely. I hope you do find one, I’m already wanting to find another! 😁
What a beautiful hike in the woods. I learned something new with your wasp gall!
Thank you, how cool is this wasp gall?!! Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me.
That looks like a great place for a walk. The wasp gall was new to me.
These forest lands are a true a delight, even if the owls didn’t appear, I was excited about the wasp gall. As you know well, Mother Nature never ceases to amaze us if we take our time to look!
This looks like a peaceful place to walk Donna. Too bad you didn’t find the Barred Owl. I’d have never guessed a Wasp Gall. I was thinking it was spores from some type of fungi and a pretty one at that! I went into the garage one time and happened to look up to find a big wad of mud fastened to the top of the garage door that goes almost to the ceiling. It might have been there for a while. I never saw a single wasp, but when the door started sticking, the garage door repairman took it off the door with his bare hands. Me, I’d be dancing around looking at it for a very long time!
It is a wonderful forest, by 10 am it had gone silent, hardly a bird singing. The smells were so fresh for Spring which I enjoyed! The gall was a super exciting find, I always love seeing something new and unique. I’ve had mud nests like yours, ours were mud dauber wasps. I too have never seen any young leave either, they must be discreet, ha! Those mud tunnels they create are incredible.
I like seeing unique and new things as well Donna. I was at the Park one day and happened to see a huge wasp’s nest hanging from a tree limb. I contacted the City because I thought there must be a lot of wasps to make a paper nest that large in so little time. I’d have noticed it at some point. I got wasps over my side door – I never saw one but the handyman was cleaning the gutters and saw a stream of them going into a small hole by the outside light. They were discreet with me, but Jim must have gotten their entrance wet as they were buzzing everywhere and he said they were mad! 🙂 He took some caulking and filled the entrance (thankfully). Yes, mud dauber wasps was the name of those wasps on the garage door overhead. All types of small holes – amazing!
I like all the critters, but not in our house/garage and drilling our decks!
Yes, those birds flying into the garage or woodpeckers drilling the decks are definitely excluded!
What a rich wildlife area you have to enjoy! That is an interesting find. I’ve never seen this kind of gall before.
To be honest, sometimes I just don’t know where to go next 😊 because we have so much richness to explore. That’s why I enjoy going on local bird club trips because they go to some of the coolest spots and trails. Then I can go back! 😉 With all that green and brown in the forest, it was like we were meant to see that wasp gall so bright and lovely!
How lucky you are 😊
Lovely spot, Donna. And what a surprising find…I’ve learned something today.🙂
Thank you, Jane, these forest lands are gorgeous! So sorry for such a late reply! Since May 21st, I’ve not been able to access my WP admin until yesterday, finally!
We have galls in the oak trees in California, but they are not nearly as pretty as yours, Donna. Your walk looks beautiful, but I would not want to be walking out there when those galls come to life. 🙂 xxx