Alabama Creek

We spent Thanksgiving week down in Alabama with family, spending most of the time at a cabin within Bankhead National Forest. This is a beautiful area with plenty of creeks, forest, and limestone outcroppings all around. Even despite a record summer drought, the creeks, while low, still had some water in them.

Along one area of the creek, there was a patch of these really interesting looking reeds. They’re hollow reeds, that somewhat resemble bamboo, except for the fact that they don’t have any leaves.

Each node has a white section, encompassed by black. I have no idea whether they’re native or introduced.

Some of the stalks had flower heads on them, but I didn’t actually see any in bloom, so I’m unsure whether these are truly flowers, or whether they’re just seed pods. If anyone can identify this plant for me, I’d really appreciate it! (edit: Thanks to commenter Kelley for identifying this as Equisetum sp., or more commonly known as “horsetail.”)

Most of the leaves had already fallen from this area of the forest, with the exception of some late beech trees. There are many pine and spruce trees throughout the forest, but they’re not shown here.

The creek contained many rocks completely covered in moss. Creek banks, and even some tree trunks were also quite covered in moss. I didn’t bring any home with me to try out in the aquarium, however.

Walking along one of the trails, I nearly stepped on this Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis). I think he was just as startled as I was because he went into his brown coloration, and stood perfectly still hoping not to be seen.

I took advantage of his stoic pose to take quite a few pictures of him. Our family tells us that these lizards are seen all over the place, and are quite common to their hollow.

Not in the creek, but in a puddle near the cabin, this little salamander was staying moist. He was only about 3-4 inches long, and quite active.