The view from farther back

As you’ve heard, on February 15th I spent some time walking along a creek that runs through the hills in far northwest Austin. Apparently brought out by the warming temperatures that week, patches of the algae floating on the surface of the creek seemed preternaturally green. In the last post you had a close view of that algae looking straight down, and now you get to see what the winter woods along the creek looked like. The tree with one of its long trunks arched over the creek is a black willow, Salix nigra, a species that does best near water and therefore is most often found near water. The woody vines hanging from the upright trees are rattan, Berchemia scandens.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman