TJ discovered that some of my pics wouldn't upload because they were too big. So she cropped them a little and I'll post 4 more.
This little stand of woods has thick vines and bushes on the out skirts, but has a rather clean floor inside. It seems that most of the trees reach for the sky, seeking sunlight. So, most of the limbs are high and I suppose block out most of the sunlight below, which limits vegetation and undergrowth.
These tall trees are favorite nesting sites for some of the larger birds in the area, such as owls, hawks, and the large woodpeckers that make a sound sorta like a jungle bird. When we lived by the Speed Barn, every night we could here the clear hoo-hoo sound of resident owls from this patch of woods. Recently, we disturbed a pair of nesting hawks everytime we went to this area to take these pics. They would circle around, making a high piched screech, letting us know they were not happy about our intrusion. I wonder what the birds thought about all the racket them Pontiacs used to make, when they fired up, late at night, and rattled the Speed Barn?
Here's a very tall Pine which fell during one of our thunderstorms. When the wind blows on these tree tops, it has 70-80' of leverage, which makes it hard for the root system to hold the tree up sometimes. So, down they come.
There are not many of these tall wooded areas left in this part of the country. Pine timber is the big money crop here. So more and more of these old hardwood forests are being clear cut, so they can be planted with Pine seedlings. It's sorta sad to see these thick woods where I used to hunt squirrels in my younger days, now all just ugly cutovers, covered in young Pine saplings.
And here's the pic of the little cane patch I mentioned. In some spots, especially close to a small creek or stream or other water source, you can find some real thick stands of cane. All the small streams and ponds in this area have at least a few small patches.