Coyote Scat

Coyotes are opportunistic eaters with a diverse diet that includes small rodents such as mice and voles, rabbits, birds, carrion, deer, insects, lizards, fish, fruit, seeds and grass. This varied diet depends on the time of year and ecosystem that they are inhabiting.

Over the last couple of weeks out at the arboretum I have found coyote scat that consists mainly of what appears to be apples. When I broke some apart, it was full of what looks like apple skins, chunks of undigested apple pieces, and seeds. First and foremost, I can’t help being drawn over to the bright orange glow the coyotes are contributing to the fall colors. Why is it so beautifully orange?

Its scat is prominently displayed in places like in the middle of trails, trail junctions, on roadsides, or on rocks. These locations are chosen to communicate information to other coyotes, such as marking its territory. The last photo below shows a pile of scat at the edge of the gravel road where a path comes down from the meadow. I found multiple piles of feces in this area.

Curiously, it seems like the apples were only partially digested. That might be due to the coyote’s canine teeth chomping the apple into fairly big chunks as it ate and swallowed it. Perhaps, those bigger pieces just don’t get broken down as well as it passes through the coyotes digestive tract.

Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I look forward to seeing you out there.

Powder-headed Tube Lichen

While walking down the path the other day, I came across a lichen that had fallen out of a tree. It looked like a small piece of coral from the ocean with its aquamarine color and tubular, branching lobes.

I picked it up to take a look and it was papery dry and light as a feather. It seemed quite delicate, and I felt I had to handle it with care to keep from crushing it. There was a small breeze and I slightly cradled it to keep it from blowing out of my hand. The tips of the tubular lobes develop into a nodule-like head called the soralia where the powdery soredia are produced, hence the common name powder-headed tube lichen. Soredia are asexual reproductive structures that contain both the photobiont (algae or cyanobacteria) and the mycobiont (fungus). The soredia will disperse and grow into a new lichen if they land in a suitable habitat.

Rhizines are fungal filaments that function to attach and hold many lichens to their substrate and don’t have vascular capabilities like the roots in plants. The Latin name of Powder-headed Tube Lichen is Hypogymnia tubulosa. Its genus is derived from the Greek words hupó, meaning “under” and gumnós, meaning “naked.” If you look on the underside of Hypogymnia tubulosa it has a blackened, wrinkled surface that lacks rhizines which is probably what this is referring to. So far in my research, I haven’t found a description of how its underside attaches itself to a substrate like tree bark.

I found a bare spot on a tree limb and nestled it between some other lichens to hold it in place. I wanted to see if it would reattach and continue to grow.

Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I look forward to seeing you out there.

Sources
“Hypogymnia.” Wikipedia, 22 Nov. 2024. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hypogymnia&oldid=1259003117.

Jackson, August. “Lichens of Mount Pisgah: A Field Guide to Select Species.” Nov. 2022, https://mountpisgaharboretum.org/wp-content/uploads/Lichen-Field-Guide.pdf.

Lichen Biology. https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/beauty/lichens/biology.shtml. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.

Southern Alligator Lizard

At the top of the zigzag trail where it comes out of the forest, the landscape opens up into a small, grassy meadow with a mix of Oregon white oaks, bigleaf maples and Douglas-firs along the edge. It is a nice transition zone where I always pause because I often see lots of birds here.

The other day I came upon a southern alligator lizard basking on the gravel path as I entered this area. I have seen one before, but this time I was struck by how long and slender its body was. With its body resting flat on the ground and its legs close to its sides, it really resembled a small snake. It also slithered off the path like a snake when I was attempting to walk around it and not disturb it after I checked it out for a little while.

The top of its body is brown with black spots that form bands, its underside is pale, and there may be white spots along its side like the one here. Along the sides of the body, between the top of the body and belly, there are small scales that create a fold that allows the body to expand. This is valuable for being able to eat large prey, puff up to appear larger when threatened, and for a pregnant female to have more space to carry her eggs.

They are found in open forested landscapes and along riparian areas too. They are active during the day and like most lizards, can often be found basking in a warm, sunny spot like a rock or pathway.

Their diet mostly consists of small invertebrates such as grasshoppers, slugs, spiders, centipedes, beetles, crickets, etc. but it will also eat bird eggs, nestlings, other lizards, and small mammals.

They can shed their tail if threatened. That said, I have seen people catch this lizard a few times and it didn’t shed its tail, but it did try to bite them. Losing their tail can save their life in the moment and isn’t harmful. That said, it can affect their overall survival. It takes time to regenerate a tail and it is where they store fat for energy. Also, their agility, speed, and balance can be impaired.

I didn’t know this until I did the research to write this post. There are two western alligator lizards, a southern and a northern. The way to tell them apart is the southern species has a yellow eye and the northern one has a dark eye.

We have a few warm, sunny afternoons ahead this week in the forecast, so keep an eye out. Good luck!

Resources
Southern Alligator Lizard | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife. https://myodfw.com/wildlife-viewing/species/southern-alligator-lizard. Accessed 14 Oct. 2025.

Southern Alligator Lizard | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/species/elgaria-multicarinata. Accessed 14 Oct. 2025.

Acorn Weevils Exiting Acorns

Over the past couple of weeks I have had to be mindful of all of the acorns dropping off of the oak trees, not there was anything I could have done to avoid being bonked by one besides not walking under the oak trees at all. That would take all of the fun and excitement out of it and it has only happened a couple of times. I was also curious to check out the acorns impregnated by weevils. I saw one lying on the ground that had the scar from an acorn weevil laying its eggs. I flipped over to see that there were two neat, round exit holes on the other side. I decided to open the acorn to see what it looked like on the inside. It was powdery and crumbly. I started to gently stir the contents when I saw something moving in the middle. A small white grub was wriggling around. I didn’t think that there still might be one still inside. It squirmed and twisted at being disturbed and exposed to the world. It soon carried on eating the flesh of the acorn as I sat and watched it. It is fascinating that this small, white, delicate, wrinkled grub would crawl down into the soil, spin a cocoon, metamorphose, and emerge in a year or two into a furry acorn weevil. There is so much unseen wonder constantly unfolding in nature. The force of life is an incredible energy that is constantly exploding forth.

Oak Mazegill

There is an oak snag on the hillside that has these interesting mushrooms cascading down the side that appear to have been crafted by forest gnomes—they resemble the pointy hats that they wear. Underneath each one is a maze that is the entrance into their mysterious world if you know how to solve it.

In Mushrooms Demystified, David Arora calls it Thick-Walled Maze Polypore, Daedalea quercia. According to iNaturalist, this species was transferred to the genus Fomitopsis in 2024. It also has the common name Oak Mazegill.

Under habitat in Mushrooms Demystified, David writes, “Solitary or sometimes in shelving groups on dead or living hardwoods, especially oak, chestnut, and chinquapin; widely distributed, but especially common in Eastern North America. I have seen it in Northern California and Oregon, but have yet to find it in our area. It causes a brown heart rot, and the tough fruiting bodies occur year-round.”

Mushrooms can be tricky to identify, for me. I haven’t really spent that much time identifying them and getting to know them. I do find them beautiful and fascinating and they always attract my attention this time of year. After all, the mushroom festival at the arboretum is this month. In Mushrooms Demystified, David writes, “Pores usually greatly elongated and pocket- or mazelike, sometimes even forming gills; whitish to buff, tan, or dull ochre; tube walls (or “gills”) thick (1 mm or more), the spaces between them at least 1 mm broad; tubes 0.5-3 cm long, the layers not distintly stratified.” What I find curious is that they are “pocket- or mazelike, sometimes even forming gills.” I found other mushrooms growing out of the end of a fallen oak tree that had been cut to clear the path. They were similar to the ones on the snag but the pores looked more like gills. iNaturalist also suggested they were the Oak Mazegill which would align with David’s description of sometimes forming gills. I am surprised that they can form so differently, as long as they are the same species. I included an example in the last photo below. Maybe I can catch up with a mycologist at the mushroom festival and ask about it.

Resource
Arora, David. Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi. Second edition, Ten Speed Press, 1986.

5 Years

I started this blog 5 years ago and I want to say thank you to everyone out there who has visited this site. I hope that you have been inspired to spend more time in nature. While walking around this morning at the arboretum, I heard the calls of varied thrushes cascading through the forest on the hillside. I felt lucky to have a place near my home like the arboretum. I love this time of year with the cool morning air, the clouds drifting through the sky, the delicate waning light, the dampening rain, the return of lush green moss and the sweet scent of the earth. They are a healing for my spirit. I hope everyone has a place near where they live where they can be out in nature. Happy fall!

Lace Bugs on Oregon White Oak

Some of the Oregon White Oaks out at the arboretum are infested with lace bugs. Lace bugs live on the underside where they can be protected from the weather and predators. They have a piercing-sucking mouthpart that sucks out plant juices. This causes a splotchy or stippling yellow appearance on top of the leaves. Lace bugs usually feed on their preferred host plant.

From my observations, the eggs are black and are fairly neatly laid in a small group. The excrement of the lace bugs is also black and it can be confusing to tell the difference when the leaf becomes infested and messy underneath. When the eggs hatch, the nymphs are black and spiny. Lace bugs will go through several instars before becoming adults. The adults have lace-like wings and it is where they get their common name.

I didn’t find any information that suggests that lace bugs can be harmful to the health of the trees. That said, I am sure that it does cause a little stress to the trees. I imagine there is some decline in the amount of sugars made from photosynthesis because of the yellowing of the leaves and the reduction of chlorophyll in the leaves.

When you get to this time of the year, most deciduous leaves show damage from insects or from the dryness of summer weather. The rains will be a welcome sigh of relief this week.

Pisolithus

I saw one of these and thought it was a decaying piece of wood. Then I walked past another one that was similar but was crumbling and deteriorating into a fine, powdery dust. As I was investigating these interesting forms, my friends Patrick and Nellie walked up. I showed them these intriguing objects and Patrick said they were mushrooms!

The genus Pisolithus comes from the Greek words piso, meaning pea and lith, meaning stone. These small, pea-shaped “stones” known as peridioles can be seen in younger specimens and contain the spores. As the fruiting body ages, the peridioles break down and release a dusty mass of brown spores.

As I read about this fungus, I found it confusing enough to want to not list a species. For example, in David Arora’s book Mushrooms Demystified, he has an entry for Pisolithus tinctorius in which he states at the end: “Its wide distribution and variable features have resulted in a plethora of aliases including P. arenarius, P. arrhizus, and Polysaccum picocarpium.”

The young mushrooms were unexpectedly fascinating on the inside. I cut one open and it revealed the beautiful peridioles forming rich, earthy golds, blacks, and browns. I am continually amazed at the abundance and diversity of life forms that can be found in my own “backyard” at Mt. Pisgah.

Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I look forward to seeing you out there!

Resource
Arora, David. Mushrooms Demystified: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fleshy Fungi. Second edition, Ten Speed Press, 1986.

Bullfrog Emerging

Over the last couple of weeks I have been seeing tons of bullfrog tadpoles in the shallow water along the river. Last weekend, I found two that had emerged from the water and were resting on some rocks. When the bullfrog tadpole starts its metamorphosis to become a frog and transition to land it briefly stops eating. Its guts are reforming and transitioning from eating a plant based to diet to one for eating animals. During this stage, it will absorb its tail for energy and nutrients in order to complete this stage of development. Depending on the environment, I read that bullfrog tadpoles will spend from one to three years as tadpoles. The Coast Fork of the Willamette river running through the arboretum seems like optimal habitat for bullfrogs. I often see tons of bullfrog tadpoles in the river and there are always heaps of bullfrogs in the wetlands. You can always see them from the Vern Adkison bridge in the wetlands in the summer. So I imagine an egg laid this summer will hatch into a tadpole, overwinter, and metamorphosis into a bullfrog towards the end of the following summer.

Super Squirrels

While out birding by the river, I saw a couple of California ground squirrels poking around on the bank foraging. I looked over and saw that one of them had climbed up on a thicket of Himalayan blackberries and was eating the berries. At this point in the season, there are a few pockets of blackberries where you can find fruits that haven’t mostly shriveled up. They are mostly around in shady areas at the edge of the forest. Along the river out in the full sun, the berries are dried up and pretty seedy, I think. That said, these California ground squirrels were chowing down on them. I thought it was interesting that they were still enjoying them. That was only part of what caught my attention. The other part is that it seemed miraculous to me that they could walk around up there and not shred their feet or fur coat. Blackberry thorns are brutal! California ground squirrels must have some sort of super power because they seemed right at home up there foraging.

California Sister Gulped by Bullfrog

The bridge out in the wetlands is a peaceful spot to watch birds and insects. I am surprised how low the water level is and how much the area of water has shrunk. There is only a couple inches of water left at this point in the summer.

There have reliably been a couple of California Sister butterflies fluttering around out in the wetlands. I was standing on the bridge watching them and occasionally they would land on the carpet of green made by a small plant that looks like it is floating on top. Butterflies will often seek out puddles or damp soil with valuable nutrients dissolved in the water. During mating, the males will deliver a nutrient-rich package with sperm called a spermatophore. These nutrients collected by the male and passed on to the female are vital for reproduction.

Butterflies seem to get absorbed in this activity and will often let you get really close. Just before I was out here, I watched two butterflies on some dog poop and they allowed me to get close to them. I’m not giving dog owners a pass or an excuse for not picking up their dog’s poop! There is plenty of scat from coyotes around the arboretum to supply butterflies. Anyway, this absorbed behavior is great for observation and photography, but it is also dangerous. This California Sister was snatched off the top of the water by a bullfrog that was excellently camouflaged, very still and patiently waiting for its opportunity. The butterfly was too close and was unable to escape the lunging bullfrog.

It was funny to see the bullfrog almost unnoticeably swallow the butterfly and just go back to sitting there like a lump on a log. It did wipe its mouth, croak, or move whatsoever.

Millions of Years

Trees will secrete a sticky substance called resin as a defense mechanism to protect itself from things like insect predators, fungi, or storm damage. Resin has antiseptic properties to protect the tree from disease. It hardens when exposed to the air and helps seal wounds. Its stickiness prevents an insect from burrowing inside the tree and in some instances encases the insect’s body.

Amber is an organic mineral that is formed from tree resin. The amber forms when the resin ends up being buried by sediments in a river or by silt at the bottom of a lake. Over time, the pressure of the sedimentary layers transforms the resin into amber. It has preserved many fascinating plant and animal specimens that give us a glimpse of life on earth eons ago.

I found tree resin oozing down the thick, craggy bark of this Douglas-fir tree and it appears to have captured a millipede wandering around on the trunk. I discovered it while marveling over the cascading formations and the variety of golden hues. If all the conditions are right, maybe sometime in the next couple-three million years this millipede will be preserved in amber and be found by a curious naturalist wandering around exploring nature.

Small Black Fish

While turning over stones in the shallow water along the bank of the Coast Fork of the Willamette River running by the arboretum, I will occasionally discover this small, midnight black fish. It doesn’t like to be out in the open and will usually dart back underneath a stone when uncovered. Its body beautifully whips back and forth in a fluid, serpentine motion and quickly disappears.

In my research, I found a fish called a Black Bullhead Catfish that is an introduced species to the Willamette River. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife had this to say on their website: “Bullheads present in Oregon (brown, yellow and black) are distinguished from channel catfish by their square or rounded tails and lack of spotting. They seldom exceed two pounds and 18-inches long. Black bullheads have a square tail with a light vertical bar at its base and chin barbels that are all dark.”

This small, black fish seems to fit the description for the black bullhead. I can’t recall ever seeing a totally black fish like this one. It’s like watching a shadow of a fish move along the bottom of the river. I’m curious, has anyone who fishes for catfish around here ever caught one out of the Willamette?

Resource
Black Bullhead | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife. https://myodfw.com/fishing/species/black-bullhead. Accessed 30 Aug. 2025.

Camas on the Bank of the River

Erosion of the bank has exposed some camas growing along the edge of the river. It is interesting to see how far down in the ground the bulbs are. I measured this one and it was around a foot below the surface. Camas bulbs have contractile roots which are able to expand and contract, drawing the bulb downward. This secures the bulb and allows it to access nutrients and moisture deeper in the ground. This also protects it from easily being dug up for food by predators and from being damaged by fire.

Camas is very nutritious and was a staple part of the diet of many indigenous tribes of the area. The bulbs were cooked in earthen pit ovens to transform the starchy plant fiber inulin into fructose. They were eaten directly or processed into cakes, dried and stored for food during the winter.

Incense-cedar Cones

Interestingly, in this photo you can see this year’s female cone still forming and next year’s male cone starting to form at the same time. The unpollinated female cone of a conifer is called an ovulate cone and it is very inconspicuous on an incense-cedar tree. So, I’m not sure if it is starting to form now as well.

The female cone will turn brown, open up to release its seeds, and drop to the ground around the beginning of October (Incense-cedar Cones, October 12, 2020). The male cones will mature and release their pollen in the winter, usually in January (Incense-cedar Pollen, January 11, 2021).

The male catkins of the hazelnut trees are forming at the moment too while the nuts are still maturing. This tree also releases its pollen in the winter. (Hazelnuts & Catkins, July 22, 2021).

Acorn Weevils

I finally found an acorn weevil!
Whoop! Whoop!

This creature is amazing and for me, quite elusive. I have been looking for one for a couple-three years. I probably have spent 20 hours poking around acorns, leaves, and branches this year, if you can believe that. Plus, you have to wait for a good acorn year. And I read that some weevils can be nocturnal, so I checked in the evening light into the dark to see if acorn weevils were active at night. One last thing, its fuzzy, brown body is well-camouflaged against the acorn caps and it closely resembles the oak tree buds. So as you can see, this little critter can be challenging to locate. Finding this one was well worth the effort.

Right now the acorns are well-formed and a lovely shade of light green. Based on all the holes I see appearing in the acorns recently, this is the time when weevils seem the most active. It has a long snout extending from the front of its body called a rostrum. On the tip is its mouth that has tiny mandibles which it uses to chew into the acorn and eat the nut.

The female has a longer rostrum than the male so she can reach farther into the acorn to safely deposit her eggs. Once she chews her way into the acorn, eating as she goes, she will turn around and extend her ovipositor into the hole and lay a couple of eggs. You will see these holes located on the acorn next to the top of the cap.

The eggs hatch out surrounded by a nutritious nut and the larvae immediately began eating and growing. As the summer wanes and fall approaches, the acorns will turn brown and fall from the tree. The chubby little larvae will then chew their way out and tunnel into the ground. There they will form a small chamber and molt into a pupa where it will remain for two years. It will then molt into its adult form, climb out of the soil and start the reproductive cycle over again.

That’s not all, it gets better. On the photo below where the weevil is on the underside of the leaf, you can see its antennae which are located around the middle of the rostrum. Seemingly, this would be a problem as the weevil extends its rostrum down in the acorn as it eats. To get around this, the rostrum has side channels called scrobes. The bottom half of the antennae fold into these grooves which moves them out of the way and protects them as the rostrum extends into the acorn. See, I told you this creature was amazing.

I’m not sure how long the adult stage lasts, so if you want to try to see an acorn weevil, my advice is to head out there now. Have fun!

Oh, one last thing, I serendipitously ran into Karen Richards when I discovered this weevil. She writes the blog on Mt. Pisgah’s website and has her own awesome site where she writes about insects called Ticklehead. Check it out. It was great sharing this moment with her.

Lesser Goldfinch

I have been watching a Lesser Goldfinch nest for the last three and half weeks. The nest is neatly tucked in a cluster of leaves at the end of an oak branch. There are two baby birds still in the nest.

It is thought that goldfinches are late season nesters in order to take advantage of all of the seeds. The parents regurgitate a mushy seed-porridge to the babies during nesting. Also, I imagine that the timing is beneficial for the juvenile birds to have a bountiful crop of seeds to eat when they leave the nest.

The meadows around the pavilion are full of grass seeds that the goldfinches love. It is fun to watch them forage. They will land on a grass stalk and move towards the seed head. This bends the stalk over where they can access the seeds and they can often be seen hanging upside down eating. Birds are acrobatic creatures.

You have to be observant and moving slowly to catch the goldfinches nibbling on seeds. They practically disappear in the dry meadow colors and the dappled sunlight under the oak trees. It is not uncommon for me to flush them out of the grass as I walk along. Many times they won’t go far and are usually fairly tolerant of my presence as I slowly inch closer to watch them.

Hope you are getting in some good birding this summer. Thanks for reading my blog.

Raccoons in the Wetlands

It was a quiet afternoon. I was standing on the bridge out in the wetlands hoping to catch a photo that I had missed the previous week when I forgot my camera at home. It happens. So, now I was back on location and ready for another shot at it. I went to take a photo and my camera battery was… dead. That happens too. Anyway, I decided to hang out and see if I was going to miss my photo again. The photo was of this skipper that kept flying around and landing on this bullfrog that was sitting a little bit out of the water. The bullfrog sat completely motionless. At one point the butterfly landed on the frog’s eyeball and he didn’t move. The butterfly moved over to between his eyes and walked around on top of his head. When the butterfly got out towards the tip of his nose, the frog lunged to try and catch it. It missed and the butterfly circled back and landed on top of his head again. That was the photo I went back to see if I could get. It happens, rarely.

I hung out at the bridge for quite awhile and nobody came by. While I was standing there, I heard a slight rustle behind me which I thought was maybe a song sparrow that had been hanging around gleaning insects from the old pondlily leaves. To my surprise an adult raccoon followed by two little ones came walking out from under the bridge. They were quietly chattering to each other and walking along the edge of the water. The two small ones stayed hidden underneath the shrubs next to the water. I had seen them about a week ago. They were chasing each other through the bushes and came out running out on the trail in front of me. Now here they were roaming through the wetlands. I could see them curiously turning over small pieces of debris looking to see what was underneath. The mama raccoon was meandering farther out in the water. She appeared to find a few things, but I was unable to tell what it was and if she ate it or not. She was occasionally rubbing her front paws together and putting them towards her mouth. I watched them as they explored the area for about 10 minutes. I was honestly amazed at how quiet they moved through the vegetation. As they scurried off and hopped over a log, their movement didn’t make any sound. I could only slightly hear soft murmurings of communication between them.

I hope you are having a great summer full of time in nature. See you out there.

Western Pearlshell Mussel

I want to introduce you to the Western Pearlshell mussel (Margaritifera falcata). It is a bivalved, freshwater mollusk that can be found in the Willamette River.

Besides being a beautiful creature, they are important part of the ecology of a stream. They are filter feeders which helps improve water quality and clarity. Their shells store nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus that are slowly released back into the ecosystem when they die. Beds of mussels provide habitat for invertebrates, and the empty shells are safe havens for developing fish.

The breeding cycle of the western pearlshell mussel is fascinating. For fertilization to occur, the male will release sperm and the female will filter it out of the water. The embryos develop into larvae called glochidia and are released into the water where they must encounter and attach to the gill filaments of a host fish. The glochidia are parasites on the fish and remain on them for several weeks or months as they develop into tiny juvenile mussels. When they are ready, they release and fall back to the stream bottom where they to continue to grow and mature. Most freshwater mussels need a host fish to complete their lifecycle. The known host fish for the western pearlshell are salmonids, such as Chinook salmon, coho salmon, cutthroat trout, redband trout, and steelhead. Not only are these fish part of the lifecycle, they are important for distributing the mussels as they move and migrate through the river system.

Amazingly, these mussels have been recorded to live to over a hundred years old, so they are important indicators of the health of the ecosystem. Alarmingly, over seventy percent of North America’s species of freshwater mussels are listed as endangered, threatened or of special concern. This is due to factors like pollution, habitat loss, and decline in host fish populations.

This is another reminder of the crisis we are facing on this planet with the continual degradation of biodiversity and vitality of our ecosystems in nature. We know that we need to be better stewards of the earth. I hope there is a local place in nature that you visit often, have become connected to, and are inspired to help make it a better place.

Nature is an inexhaustible source of wonder. I look forward to seeing you out there.

Sources
“Native Freshwater Mussels in the Pacific Northwest | Xerces Society.” Xerces.org, 2025, xerces.org/publications/guidelines/native-freshwater-mussels-in-pacific-northwest. Accessed 28 July 2025.

Western Pearlshell (Margaritifera Falcata) | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. https://www.fws.gov/species/western-pearlshell-margaritifera-falcata. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.

Western Pearlshell Mussel | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/species/margaritifera-falcata. Accessed 28 Jul. 2025.

Williams, James D., et al. “Conservation Status of Freshwater Mussels of the United States and Canada.” Fisheries, vol. 18, no. 9, Sep. 1993, pp. 6–22. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8446(1993)018<0006:CSOFMO>2.0.CO;2.

Trailing Blackberry Fruit

Here are the fruits of the native trailing blackberry. It ripens to form a black, delicious berry just like you would imagine. Although, they don’t form the abundant clusters of fruit like the Himalayan blackberries that most people are used to picking around here.

It is fairly easy to identify the native blackberry. The vines are fairly thin and trail along the ground. They do have thorns that will grab on to you and snag a thread in your clothes or lightly scratch your skin. That said, they don’t form dense, impenetrable thickets of stout canes with sturdy thorns like the Himalayan blackberry that will easily shred you and your clothing. The trailing blackberry usually forms leaves that consist of three, ovate, toothed leaflets but they can form five leaflets too. The Himalayan blackberry generally has five leaflets but can also have three leaflets that are also toothed but have a more round, oval-shape.

The last photo below shows the Himalayan blackberry in the top of the photo and the trailing blackberry in the bottom of the photo for comparison.