Earlier this week, I wrote about interesting holes in the bark of burned ponderosa pine trees at our Niobrara Valley Preserve. However, I wasn’t actually focused on documenting holes in trees at the time – I was just looking for interesting photo compositions. Ponderosa pine bark patterns are always fun to explore, but the additional contrast between the tawny browns and the charred black from the wildfire created even more intriguing images than usual. The photo below was my favorite from that trip’s pine bark art.
Ponderosa pine bark on a burned tree at The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve, Nebraska.
The photo reminds me of a Rorschach test. What do you see in it? I see the tall face of an angry looking man looking to the right. He may or may not be sticking out his tongue. I think I’d prefer not to hear Dr. Rorschach’s diagnosis of my personality characteristics…
The Prairie Ecologist 
You have a very good eye. That is art. However, I see a lizard looking back at me. A very sad lizard.
Or a Pacific Northwest totem pole
I see a monkey face and he is howling in the top 3/4 of the photo. The hole is the eye.
I see a distorted Kabuki actor with a blonde pompadour and little arms….if you turn the image 90 deg. counter-clockwise, the face will melt into an aerial view of a landscape. Yes, I had to look at my monitor with my head parallel to the floor, but it’s worth the neck crick. : ) Fun Rorschach!
Very interesting image.
First impression: lava flow
All I can see is the homework. :( Still trying to discover the reason for the chewed holes. Have reached out to several experts with no reply as of yet.
Homer Simpson.