Shady bank

Great pic Diane,eddie,

Thank you, Eddie!

...I love birches...

Hello, Erika, they are aspens. Thank you!

Super shot again!

Many thanks, Andy!

And beautiful Birches

Thanks! Quaking aspen, not birches. They're chunkier than birches and have heart-shaped leaves that flutter.

AHA !!

Voilà!

Yeah, in the western US a wild white-barked tree is nearly always an aspen rather than a birch. We even say "birch looks like aspen" rather than "aspen looks like birch." ;) Curiously, the trees aren't even closely related. Aspen are genus Populus, the same as poplar and cottonwood.

They also often have branch scars that look like eyes!
www.ipernity.com/doc/289859/42504298

I always think if there is a group of birches in the middle of nowhere, it's probably an old farm that's been demolished. It's interesting to me that birch trees don't seem to naturalize outside of home gardens - at least I never see it. Maybe the seeds don't travel far, or they don't germinate well in dry western soil. I have no idea how they do in the east. I guess aspens don't rely on seeds, they go shoot-crazy like bamboo.

I've seen it claimed than an aspen grove is actually the same tree, all clones coming up from runners.