Week 10

9 Jun 2014
Partly cloudy, partly sunny
68-70 F
1:30PM

Start

PART 1 PHENOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS:

It's already week 10 of the quarter and the last week of blogging- hard to believe! Here is a picture of my site when I started, an intermediate picture, and a picture of it now (left).

Intermediate

End

There is clearly much more greenery now, which is really cool to see in a concrete, comparative manner. Along with the greenery, there seems to be more pollen and invertebrates too. Today I saw more invertebrate activity than on the day that we were supposed to focus on invertebrates, perhaps because it was nicer weather, or maybe because I sat at my site for about an hour and a half. Time really does pass quickly in nature and when there is so much to observe!

Going back to my first post, I see that I was noticing mostly larger things, like the blackberry bush and the apple tree. Both have gotten fuller in foliage and it seems like the blackberry bush in general has grown as well. The pond seems to have flooded a bit more- the mud starts closer to the trail than I remember in the first week. The lily pads in the pond by now have covered quite of a bit of surface area-- today I saw another red-winged blackbird land and walk on top of them. This confirmed my observation a few weeks ago that my eyes hadn't been tricking me! It sort of seems unlikely that the lily pads would be strong enough to support the weight of a bird, but apparently they are.

Like Kiana mentioned in lecture one day, it's interesting to have no control over what you see and consequently what you have to report. Today for example, I saw two really interesting things on the way to my site that I hadn't seen before.

Northern Flicker on trail

The first was a Northern Flicker on the trail. It was pecking the gravel, picking up ants in its beak. From far away, I hadn't realized that there were so many ants around, but when I got closer, I saw five or six ant tunnel holes/entrances with a crazy amount of ants swarming around. I was able to get pretty close to the woodpecker, maybe about 7 feet away, and I was surprised it didn't fly off. It didn't even move when a jogger passed it on the trail. I am not sure if Northern Flickers are naturally less human-shy than other birds, or if this ant-feast was worth it to him to stay.

The second thing that I saw, or rather heard, distracted me from the Northern Flicker. I heard a whole cacophony of crows further up the trail and a bunch of individuals all flying toward the same point. Even though crows are naturally loud, it sounded like something extra important was happening, I decided to check it out. Unfortunately, the main tree they were in was far from the trail, but I was able to observe their behavior. A few of them sat in a tree near the trail, above my head- it seemed like they were acting as lookouts or backups while the others in the area of action were taking caring of business. I think I counted at least a dozen of them. Sometimes a few of them would fly away, which I assumed meant business was being taken care of, but then sometimes they'd come back. Unfortunately I never figured out what was causing this activity, but I assumed that it was another bird that had intruded into their territory.

PART 2 DESCRIBING ORGANISMS:

1) From the perspective of someone who's never experienced nature:

It stands tall, like a dancer with its single, skinny leg touching the earth and grass around it. This could easily be a vulnerable position but it is a solid connection, and you can see that from far away. Its strength you can see when the wind comes to push it around. It moves slightly--accommodating-- and returns to its original stance. Its lower part is bare and a gray-brown color while its upper part is larger, fuller, and decorated with green shapes-- each individual one is almond-shaped and curls into itself. You see this curling up close, but not so much from far away. These green shapes are like ridged pieces of fabric that grace the stick-like frame and turn sharp angles docile. The whole structure is balanced carefully, each side equal and complementing the other.

2) From the field notes of someone who's never seen this organism before:
A large shadow crosses before my feet and suddenly I see and hear a swoop in the sky. Something lands in the pond and I sit up so I can see it better. It is a large creature--grayish blue with a yellow point protruding from its face. It watches the water, very still, while I watch it.

The neck and head form a curvy s-shape, and the back rounds into a hump. Suddenly it stretches-- horizontally, like an accordion, and dark, finger-like projections point out from two fans. As quickly as it expanded, it folds back in into a concise, effective oval. I am amazed at its simplistic beauty.

After some time, the neck stretches out and the head darts down into the water. It comes back up and shakes its head so quickly, I can only think it's instinct. The head dives in again. This time a fish is in the air--but not for long. It quickly slides through the maw--the pointy maw-- and deep into this creature's gullet. I watch the creature repeat this action for some time, until it leaves. Back in the air, it brings its stilts together to form a straight line--a streamlined body from head to toe-- and it coughs a hoarse goodbye.

3) Poem:
It crawls through the air,
bright body a surprise to see
among the grasses and purple flowers.
The body is shaped like a cherry pit
and is yellow with transparent head and legs.
Pairs of them cling to a safety-line
I cannot see.


Answers:

ANSWER 1: OREGON ASH

ANSWER 2: Great Blue Heron (http://commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/File:Great_Blue_Heron_Wading_2.jpg)

ANSWER 3: YELLOW CRAB SPIDER


PART THREE:

1) How has your perception of your observation site changed through the quarter?

Over the course of the quarter, I have come to appreciate my observation site as a unique place that I can care about and understand on a deeper level. My intial thoughts about the site were mainly that I wanted a place easy to get to from campus and my apartment, since I didn’t want to take up too much time commuting to it. When my friend suggested the Union Bay Natural Area, I agreed, but once we got there, I chose a site that was close to the head of the trail so that again, it wouldn’t take up too much of my time. Now, while I don’t regret chosing this site, I feel like if I did this type of project again, I wouldn’t mind going out of my way to find a really cool site with lots of biodiversity to discover. My growing knowledge and familiarity of UBNA and my specific site makes me want to continue returning to the place and documenting changes, although perhaps not on my blog. It has been really cool to see the same things change, and although it’s a cliche, it’s a little like watching a little kid grow up. I feel like I am part of UBNA’s experience and growth, and that makes me care for it and feel attached to it. Since some things about the place are still mysteries to me (for example, for some reason I haven’t been able to find mushrooms, though I would like to, and I am curious to know what the place is like in winter or fall) I am excited to witness these changes.

2) How has your sense of the Puget Sound Region changed through the quarter?

I think that experiencing the Pugest Sound Region in person has made me feel more connected to it. Going to Eastern Washington for example, was pretty cool for me. Since I really only remember going there once before (a long time ago, back in 7^th grade), most of the time it feels like an abstract place that I know is supposed to feel dry and hot. Seeing and feeling that experience I think helped connect my academic knowledge to my innate knowledge. I do wish that I had a better sense of geography however, and of what the landscape transitions are like between places like the UBNA area and the Umtanum Creek area we were in. While the course wouldn’t have time for it, I think it would be really cool traverse this journey on foot.

The first field trip we took to the Olympic Penninsula also helped me gain a better sense of the Pugest Sound Region. My experiences there made me more aware that all of this vast forest is out there, and for some reason they gave me a sense of ownership and some stewardship of the place. Such a variety of environments was pretty amazing to see, and I think that as a whole the experiences have brought the Puget Sound to a more central and concrete part of my life.

3) What does it mean to intimately know a natural place?

I think that intimately knowing a place involves the process of learning about and caring for a place by spending time observing it, experiencing it, and interacting with it. For me to intimately know a place, learning involves a combination of hands-on learning and academic/scientific study (i.e. latin names and characteristics of organisms). For others, learning might take a different form. Children for example, might tend to use a trial-and-error, hands-on approach. For example, a child might learn through play that Western Red Cedar has bark that peels easily for ropes, but that Douglas-fir doesn’t. While this child might not know the names of each tree, he/she still has an intimate knowledge of the place that was built through close connection and interaction with it.

For me specifically, being able to name and identify organisms has a certain empowerment to it—after this course I have felt less lost in nature (i.e. trees are not “just” trees to me anymore; instead they are specific species with certain qualities/traits that I actually know) and I also feel more on par with it. I feel like I am on nature’s level when I can identify parts of it, and that feeling only increases the more I find out about it.

Field Trip

31 May 2014
Hot, sunny, breeze
Yakama Canyon, Umtanum Ridge, waterfall trail (East of Cascades)
Low-mid 70's

On the trail, looking for birds

Our first stop at Yakama Canyon had a noticeably different landscape than what I am used to on the west side of the Cascades. It was very dry and shrubby looking and had many rock cliff formations that I associate with desert areas. We learned that the area gets approximately 10-15 inches of rain every year. As a result, the vegetation has had to adapt to low moisture levels.

Same area as above but with train in background;
it was interesting and somewhat surprising being in
 a place that felt so remote from civilization and then seeing
this train pass by. I had not realized that the train tracks were
in current use.

For some reason I had not expected to see so much green around. I have not been to Eastern Washington very much, and had only heard that it's very desert-y, so I had been expecting more sand and dark green shrubbery rather than light green shrubbery. That was was the type of landscape I had experienced on a trip to Jordan, and my mind had decided to connect the two. I think that there is a difference in photosynthetic efficiency between dark green and light green foliage, but I am not sure which one is more efficient. I wonder if this color adaptation may also be an adaptation for water conservation (dark colors attract more heat which would increase water evaporation; thus it would be advantageous for plants to be a lighter colored green).

Interestingly, while the landscape and feel of the place was different from Western Washington, we saw many of the same species that we see around Seattle. For example we saw willows, ponderosa pines, cottonwoods, barn swallows, and bald eagles. While some of these species may be slightly different in each region (for example, birds in Eastern Washington may have different dialects than the same birds in Western Washington) I thought it was cool to see familiar flora and fauna around. The cottonwoods and willows were actually in more moist areas of the place (near the river) and the increase in greenery was very noticeable 

At this site we saw various types of birds that I had not seen before- I learned that these are called life-birds. For example, we saw lazuli buntings, which have a blue head, rusty orange breast, and white stomach; Bullock's Orioles, which have an orange breast and face and black head and wings with some gray. One thing I noticed about the birds specifically though, was that their flight patterns seemed different than what I've seen before-mostly they were slower and seemed to move in slow motion, something that I thought would be interesting to experience if I were a bird. I figured out later though, that this was probably caused by wind currents, although I am not sure why this area is more conducive to those types of wind currents than areas around Seattle. Perhaps the open shrub lands and tall valley sides channel smaller wind currents into larger, stronger ones.

Tall sagebrush

My favorite part of this area was the tall sagebrush, since I have heard about sagebrush before but had never experienced it in real life. It was surprising to realize that it has such a strong scent that I can now identify as sagebrush. I also didn't know that this species grew so slowly- the plant pictured on the right (about 5-6 feet tall) is likely around 100 years old. Sagebrush has both deep taproot systems and shallow root systems, which allows for the plants to access as many nutrients and moisture as possible. Such adaptations are clearly useful for extreme climates and ecologies. With so much steppe (grasses) around, the root systems of such plants must be very useful to get moisture from, as grasses tend to quickly soak up any water that is present.

Tall sagebrush up close; you can see the three-pronged
leaf edges

Interestingly, sagebrush is very susceptible to fire, and I wonder why it hasn't adapted to not be, since a fire would be able to spread quickly in this area (sagebrush plants seem like easy fuel sources that would simply help the fire spread).

In comparison, we also saw bitterbrush, which is similar to sagebrush and also has three-pronged leaflet ends.

Bitterbrush 

Our second stop at Untanum Ridge also had a few species that I normally do not see around Seattle. For example, snakes, scorpions, and short-horned lizards. Short-horned lizards are also known as "horned toads" and are in the iguana family. Their color depends on the habitat's soil color in order to blend in. They have white spiny edges and are active during the day. Northern scorpions are a sort of brown color and are not dangerous to people. They eat insects and are mostly nocturnal, so it was interesting that we saw one on the field trip. Like other sites in Eastern Washington, this place had lots of shrubs and steppes adapted for hot climates. Not many plants grew very tall; likely because it would be disadvantageous to do so. I speculate that it takes more energy for plants to grow tall, and that doing so would only help the plants around it, which would benefit from its shade.

Areas like these receive less than 12 inches of rain. Shrubs like sagebrush are common in them, and a variety of reptiles, mammals, and birds rely on such plants for their habitats and for food. This is an example of how organisms have adapted to such dry areas and the vegetation found in them.

The waterfall trail was our last stop. On the trail there were lots of quaking aspen (I found out that this the the largest species in the world since they form connected communities through their roots) and cottonwood trees. Quaking aspen usually live in low areas where there is plenty of water; they are shade-intolerantOther familiar species included Doulgas-firs, red-winged black birds, and American Robins. We also saw mule deer, or black-tailed deer, which have black tails.

We hiked up the trail to the water fall and as the elevation increased, the vegetation and features did too. I commonly saw a plant that looked a lot like red huckleberry, but its leaves weren't alternate- they were opposite. I did not figure out what this was, but it was an interesting connection for me to make, and one that I would have not made before taking this class and learning plant identification.


We also saw/heard a snake in the bushes--multiple attempts are catching it failed, however, so I never found out what type of snake it was. A brief glimpse of it told me that it was brown though.

Up above the waterfall, I had a view of the vegetation above me and below me. Above me and above the waterfall, there seemed to be a significant increase in evergreens; I think they were ponderosa pine trees. Below the waterfall were more deciduous trees. In the waterfall's immediate surroundings, there was much more dryness than I expected. It seemed to be a little lacking in water, although perhaps the flow is stronger in the early spring, since this is when ice and snow begins to melt.



I also went up to the top of the cliff, which was mostly loose dirt and rocks. There were a few plants nestled into some rock nooks that I thought were cool, and I wondered what type of predators they had. The yellow flowers is an example of one plant I saw (picture above). It doesn't seem to be in my guidebook but perhaps that's because it's not native, or perhaps it's currently in a stage of life that looks different from the pictures in the Audubon. There were also some interesting rocks that look like they'd had holes drilled out by giant, heavy raindrops. This may be air bubbles that popped when the rock was forming and cooling, but I'm not sure. You can sort see one of these holes in the flat, light colored rock below the yellow center flower in the photo above.

Also in this picture you can see crustose lichen (possibly white paint lichen; it looks similar to the lichen I found at my site, although this one is located on a rock and not a tree branch)-- it really can grow anywhere! The location of the lichen here especially makes me wonder what makes it able to hold on to the rock so tightly that a colony of lichen can successfully grow. It seems like a small speck of lichen that was just starting out here could easily be blown away or brushed into the dirt by hikers or animals.