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.