Week 4

Date: 28 April 2014
Weather: sunny, few clouds, about 65 F
Time: 3:30pm

My observation site was pretty active today- lots of people and dog, and of course wildlife. I saw some new species, including cinnamon teals, great blue heron, and a type of swallow maybe a barn swallow (not sure). In general there seemed to be a lot of bird activity. At one point there was a murder of crows that took over a tree by my site. They seemed to be chasing away the other smaller birds that had been there before.

It seemed like the area in general was more verdant; more/taller grasses and more buds growing.

I heard generally the same bird calls as I did before, though it seemed more active. I was able to listen to a conversation (call and response) between some birds (couldn't tell how many were involved) which was pretty cool. I heard the varied thrush and the red-winged blackbird as well as the great blue heron, which was pretty interesting. The heron sat on a log in the water for a while and then flew away. It was interesting hearing his/her squawk-like call and seeing him/her fly- the movements looked a little clumsy/awkward, which for some reason I wasn't expecting to see.

Other bird observations I made included seeing how some other species flew. One that I noticed (not sure of the species) had a way of flapping its wings and then shooting off for a short distance in a very aerodynamic way. Another one (brown body, small) had to flap somewhat frantically and then wasn't able to glide very well or gracefully on that momentum, so it seemed like it had to flap its wings more frequently.

I also noticed many more gnats and insects in the air. The bees seemed to like the scotch broom shrub quite a bit. Since the water in the pond is pretty still, I started wondering if it was good mosquito habitat, and when/if they would start coming out...

Look to Plant ID tab for more details on what I observed.

Week 3

Date: 19 and 20 April
Weather: rainy and cold; then cloudy and cool
Location: Olympic Peninsula, specifically Lake Crescent and Salt Creek

Over the weekend we went up to the Olympic Peninsula to visit Lake Crescent and the surrounding forest as well as the Salt Creek tide pools.

Thumbnail sketch of Lake Crescent

To the left is my thumbnail sketch of the landscape at Lake Crescent. Although the fog made it a little difficult to see the hills in the distance, the valley is U-shaped, which is typical of glacially carved valleys (this particular area was shaped by the Fraser Lobe of the Cordilleran icesheet). V-shaped valleys are usually carved by rivers. Since glacial movement went from north to south, any geologic formations in this area run north-south.

The section of the lake I was observing had vegetation (coniferous trees) down to the waterline, which indicates that the water level at that point has stayed pretty constant. Lack of vegetation near the edge of the water would have indicated previous flooding that would have killed off vegetation close to the waterline. The water was pretty clear, still, and very deep, up to 1000 feet deep in some places. Because the lake contains so much water, it has too few nutrients to support very much life. However, there is one species of fish endemic to it that is also landlocked into it-- the beardslee trout. The trees in the foreground of my drawing are red alders.

Young forest, characterized by little development of the understory.

We also went into the forests and observed the different types of flora and fauna (black-tailed deer, pacific wren, varied thrush, townsend warbler, to name a few) there. The area we were in was almost technically a rainforest but not quite(only 10 inches under the definition's threshold). We saw a clearly distinct line in the forest where trees were not mossy, and then where they did become mossy, indicating a change in forest vegetation and thus structure and processes. I thought this was pretty cool and interesting that the divide would be so pronounced, rather than gradual. Various tree species we saw included western red cedar, douglas-fir, grand fir, big leaf maple, and western hemlock. In general, the phenology of the plants here was behind that of the ones in Ravenna because of lower temperatures in the National Park than in the city. We were also able to see the difference between young and old forests, where old forests are characterized by B.U.N.S., or big trees, understory development, nurse logs, and snags.

Western red cedar with cool moss/lichen, not sure what type it is
(this is not the tree that went through the fire disturbance). This tree species
is well adapted to fire and has high changes of surviving fire disturbances.
It also is decay-resistant.

One particular western red cedar we saw near the trail had survived a fire disturbance. Its trunk was hollowed out and blackened but the overall tree was still living. While its support structure is less stable, it can still cycle nutrients through its length and thus remain living. Fire disturbances like this cause drastic effects not just to individual trees (Douglas-firs that have gone through fires will often have charcoal fire-scars on their trunks) but to the overall forest structure as well. Sometimes fire will go through the forest in a mosaic pattern, leaving behind biological legacies like nurse logs, which provide habitat. Immediately after a fire disturbance, early successional species like red alders, shrubs, and opportunistic species will begin to grow. While old-growth habitats are key to the survival of many types of organisms, early seral conditions are also important as they provide diverse habitats to important species. Middle successional species may include douglas-firs, which are not shade-tolerant, and thus take advantage of the sunlight they can access in this stage of forest development. In late seral conditions, douglas-firs may die off perhaps because of butt rot or wind disturbance. After this happens, western hemlocks, which are shade-tolerant, take advantage of their new access to sunlight and begin to take over the stand. Douglas-firs cannot grow back after this point, unless another disturbance fells the western hemlocks.

Limpets (oval-shaped shells; organism is
inside) and barnacles on rock.

The second day we went to the Salt Creek tidepools where I saw some pretty cool organisms. For instance, I saw fingered limpets-I don't think these are common in Maine- so it was interesting seeing them everywhere. They are pretty much wherever dall's acorn barnacles are, although the two species do compete with each other for space. Bob Paine mentioned that limpets will bulldoze barnacles out of their way and that sometimes you can see the trail they leave behind. This was interesting to me because I have always thought of barnacles as non-mobile, stubborn creatures, and because limpets look like they wouldn't necessarily need/want to move around either.

Dall's Acorn Barnacles; the bigger ones
in here were about 3/4 of an inch long

The barnacles here are up to two inches in length--this size is not common in the places I frequent in Maine, so it was cool to see such large ones. Their shells have adapted to become sharp for protection against large predators. Some snails can drill through their shells however. They also close up so that during low tides when they are not in the water, they can preserve their moisture.

Pacific rockweed algae

Green ribbon algae

Though I didn't see any oyster-catchers, I learned that you can tell where their territory is by where algae grows. Oyster-catchers eat barnacles, and barnacles eat algae. So if a barnacle population on a rock is eaten by oyster-catchers, there are no more algae predators, and the algae can grow more. This is an example of a ripple-effect in this ecosystem.

Unsure of this algae too,
but it has a cool texture that reminds me of
tire tracks, or textured plastic

Sea lettuce in foreground, unsure of algae in background,
perhaps deflated Pacific rockweed algae?

Unsure of what algae this is

Further out on the beach there was a huge pile of broken and empty mussel shells which was evidence of predation. Sea birds that eat mussels will often fly above rocks and drop mussels onto the ground to break the shells to access the meat inside. This seems to have been a prime location for such activity.

Other organisms we saw included mossy chiton, emarginate dogwinkle, pacific littleneck clam, edible mussels, california mussels, red crabs, pacific blood star, ochre sea star, and tidepool sculpin.

Finally, I think I may have also seen a false sea lemon, but at the time I didn't know such a creature existed, and I thought it was just an actual lemon under a rock- this would be common in the nature that I experienced as a child, where people threw away their food scraps on the beach for the seagulls to eat. Consequently, I didn't think about it too much and didn't bother to investigate- it was partially under a rock too- but flipping through my Audubon book later made me wish I had!

Week 2

Exercise 3. Memory sketch

Date: Monday, 14 April 2014
Time of Day: 4-5pm
Temperature: ~65 F
Weather: sunny, few clouds, pleasant

My site this week seemed busier than last week, perhaps either because spring is progressing or because Monday saw nice weather conducive to various human and non-human activities.

Most notably, the largest change I saw was in the blossoming tree, whose flowers turned from pink to white. There are still a few pink buds that have not opened yet, but overall the effect is white. I am not exactly sure what type of cherry tree it is, but I’ll try to make more observations next time I go. This was also the plant I decided to draw, so descriptions of it will follow in my sketches.

Exercise 4) Contour sketch

I also noticed a lot more activity in the air—more birds and insects flying around. Near the blossoms, I saw a heavy, furry-looking bee with distinctive yellow on it, which I identified as a yellow-faced bumble bee. I noticed some smaller bees near the blossoms and grass too—they were probably honey bees. I saw a number of gnats too.

As for birds, I saw the mallards and the red-winged blackbird again (I wondered if it was the same one as last week, as it was on the same tree) and a small brown bird that hopped among the cherry tree branches I was sketching. I was surprised it came so close to me. I couldn’t get a good picture of it, and don’t quite remember its details, except that it was probably 4 inches tall, a little fat, and its head was a darker brown than its body. It also made a little chirping sound. I’ll try to spot it again next week, but it seems like it could be a house wren.

Exercise 5) Gesture sketch with various time limits

Since my site is near the trails, it was relatively busy in terms of human activity too—many joggers and bikers passed by, and a few of them stopped at the pond as well. One of them saw a turtle, but I wasn’t able to spot it. Next time though!

Blossoms grew together in branching clumps;

stamens had white anthers and yellow filaments

Exercise 6) Diagrammatic sketch

Finally, another species I noticed that I hadn’t seen last time were clumps of thick, flat blades of a grass-like plant sticking up from the pond. I wasn’t able to get too close to them though, since they were in the water and I wasn’t wearing water-proof shoes...picture of this species to come next week. I couldn’t find it in the Audubon guide under algae, but these clumps may be the start of broad-leaved cattails.

Exercise 7) Shading and line techniques (note: not as noticeable in electronic form as I accidentally scanned in my document as "black and white" rather than gray shading)

Exercise 8) Study and observations

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Plant 2

LEFT: This is a contour drawing of a plant that is part of a trailing blackberry bush. It can be identified through its leaves, which are toothed (spikey) and stems, which are thorny. The leaves on this one were green with a little bit of red-brown color and about 2 inches in length.

Plant 3

RIGHT: This is a diagrammatic sketch of the new species I noticed and described above, the possible broad-leaved cattails.

Plant 4

LEFT: This is a gesture sketch of a tree on my site. It has smooth bark and a thin trunk and branches. Currently there are no blossom, but there are small green buds on the branch tips. The branches are alternating. This might be a red alder?? but I'll have to check it next time for more details.

Plant 5

RIGHT: This is a contour sketch of a catkin. It was yellow, fluffy/hairy, and about 2.5 inches long. I am not sure where it came from, since I found it on the ground and didn't know where to look for its origin (tree) until class on Tuesday. I originally thought it was maybe a flower, but didn't see any around. It may have come from the red alder? tree above.

Week 1

Date: Saturday, 6 April 2014

Time of Day:  15:00-16:00

Temperature: 45 F

Place: Union Bay trails

Weather: overcast and sprinkling

Description of site (1 sq meter):

Main site; Union Bay Trails

Pink flowers on tree (to be identified)

The site I've chosen is on the Union Bay trails, near a small pond. Funnily enough, I have not really been to the Union Bay area during my time at UW, even though it is so close to campus, so I am excited to be able to explore it and hopefully understand its ecosystem in depth this quarter. I am also interested in learning more about its history in social/cultural terms, which could add to my understanding of its natural history. 

In a one square meter area, I was able to see tufts of thick-bladed grass, dead branches snapped off of trees (one with pink buds and flowers but no leaves and one with small green sprouts on otherwise bare branches; I was unable to identify these), mud, blackberry bush branches, and a red-winged black bird overhead. The most active plants seemed to be the grass. I did not see much sign of life in the mud, though I’m sure there was. I didn’t dig around very much because I felt bad disturbing anything in the mud. This location was close to the pond.

  

Red-winged black bird (can't see the
red in the photo, but it's there!)

There were quite a few birds around, and I heard various sounds like caws from American crows, and from other birds, sprinkler-like chirps, scream-whistles, and laughing calls. I am not sure how many types of birds were around, but I am guessing about 4-5. Listening to these birds was a pretty cool experience because I had never done that before, and I hadn’t realized how varied their calls are, even within species. It made me wonder about individual birds and if their own vocal capacities vary as much as the vocal capacities of humans (i.e. voices that are naturally more easily projected than others, or ones that are naturally higher or lower pitches).

Description of site (50 sq meters):

In a 50 square meter area, I also observed dead-looking, spear-like ferns near

Spear ferns (to be identified)

the edge of the water; small and bare trees with most of their branches at the top of the tree; sprouts in the water (possibly a type of algae?); and the gravel trail going through the land. Most of the varied vegetation was on the pond side of the trail, while the other side of the trail consisted of mostly uniform vegetation—the flat, broad leaves of grass, which were taller than on the other side and were growing on uneven ground. On the other side, I also saw some ducks, geese, and sparrows were also around and active, and possibly looking to mate. The specific species were a couple of mallards (a female and a male) and two Canadian Geese. There was also a completely black duck (black feathers, black beak) that I was unable to identify.

Canadian Geese

Later on in the quarter, I expect to see more flying critters like gnats, mosquitos, butterflies, and dragonflies, especially if I go to my site around dusk. I also hope to see some animals in the pond, like frogs or fish.

View of site from across the trail

Tree with low branches that extend out

I think this was a good experience for a first observation of my site—looking back at my notes, I realize now that next time, I should note everything down, despite whether or not I think it is important, and note down the finers details of shrubs and plants, like leaf shape. For instance, I saw a purple flower in the mud that looked like it had come from somewhere else, but because I did not stop to observe it because I thought it was unimportant. Looking back at it now though, I wish I had at least taken a picture of it so that I could identify it and figure out if it really was from the area or not. My description of the grass also was poor, and though I think it may be Bluebunch Wheatgrass(?), I am not sure of my identification. I am sure that experience and more time making observations will help, as one of the reasons why I took poor notes was because I felt overwhelmed by all the different species there, and by how the same ones can sometimes look very different in different stages of life, which makes it seem like there is even more than there really is. I also felt like I was lacking the vocabulary to describe certain features, like the trees. The Audubon guide was a little helpful in this area, but still left me with some questions. For example, I am not sure how to describe the tree pictured at the right. My first instinct would be to note that it has one short main bole that turns into other smaller boles (or are they called branches?), or that it is a tree with low branches that extend out, but I am not sure if this would make sense to other naturalists, or what the standard is for describing a tree like this. Hopefully we will learn these things soon in the course!

Nature experiences as a child:

Example of typical Maine Coast
(from http://latitudesjourney.
blogspot.com/2009/
08/sorento-french-harbor-
bill-and-buckle.html)

Some of my most memorable childhood experiences in nature occurred in Maine. My family often went to a small island near Bar Harbor and would spend the summer months there. My experiences in nature there and in Seattle are very separate and distinct memories, based not only on the different vegetation, organisms, and landscapes of each locale, but the culture as well.

In Maine for example, my father and I had a tradition of sailing to a natural harbor and anchoring there for a few nights. There were small, uninhabited islands nearby that we explored and eventually got to know well over the years. Two of them were connected by a low rock “bridge” that was only accessible at low tide, and we had to time ourselves right to get back to the dinghy if we decided to cross over to the other island. Another island had what we called “fairy houses,” or little, doll-sized structures that people built out of leaves and sticks and whatever other natural materials were there. I often used the blue mussel shells and seaglass I found on the beach. Sometimes weathered lobsterpot buoys—I considered these part of nature—added to the decoration as well, but whole ones were rare to find. We also usually hiked up trails on a small mountain composed of the flat, large boulders characteristic of the Maine coast. Pine trees were and are very common there, and we would see the boulders’ crevices filled with long, flat pine needles.

While some of these features described above can also be found in Washington, I have very strong associations of them with Maine. My experiences in Seattle were in structured nature—usually parks or my backyard. Such places felt more man-made and already-explored, and I tend to think of my nature experiences as having happened in Maine. I still feel similarly, but think I will still enjoy going to my observation site this quarter.