What is it Wednesday: January 22, 2020

Can you identify what's in this photo?

Each Wednesday morning 

on Camp Lutherlyn's Facebook page

 the Lutherlyn Environmental Education Program posts a photo. 

Readers have all morning and afternoon 

to make their best guess about what the photo is. 

Around 6 pm LEEP provides the answer and a brief explanation.

Each week's What is it Wednesday post 

will also be posted on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog, 

 after it is posted on Facebook,

sometimes with additional bonus information. 

In addition to bringing you current editions of What is it Wednesday 

on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog, 

we will be reposting old editions,

creating a What is it Wednesday archive. 

This photo was posted as a What is it Wednesday on 

January 22, 2020.

And the answer is....

This is the bark of a shagbark hickory tree. 

Shagbark hickory is one of the trees that has very distinctive bark – it is usually obvious from just a quick look that a tree is shagbark hickory and it is clear where it gets its name! This makes shagbark hickory one of the trees that is easiest to identify during the winter, after the leaves have fallen from deciduous trees.

Usually the leaves of a tree are the easiest tool to identify what type of tree it is. But YOU can learn how to identify trees even without their leaves, using clues from the twigs and bark, at LEEP’s Winter Tree ID Saturday Safari on Saturday, February 1, 9:30 am – noon. We’ll also estimate the ages of some trees (how old do you think the oldest trees at Lutherlyn are?) and learn how to determine how healthy a whole forest is. Registration deadline is January 27^th! For more info or to register, check out www.Lutherlyn.com/safari. 

Like and follow Camp Lutherlyn on Facebook, to see What is it Wednesday posts when they come out and have the opportunity to share your guesses in the comments!