Seward Park Revisted

Daily Account: Seward Park Day 3: Latitude: 47.551, Longitude: -122.261
Date: May 19, 2012
Weather: Sunny, mostly blue sky, apprx. 66 degrees

Today, I spent the day at Seward Park again, doing nature/birding walks, and recording the things I saw and learned. I hadn’t been there in two weeks, so it was amazing to see the contrast from even then, but also the first time I came to the park the beginning of April this year. I noticed greener, new buds, flowers blooming from the plants which I’d learned to recognize by the leaves, and even some berries beginning to ripen.

In the morning, around 10-12am, I took two short walks near to the Audubon center, noticing the light pink flowers of the Nootka Rose (Rosa nutkana), white flowers of the thimbleberry, lots and lots of daisies, and bright yellow flowers of the Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens), the plants looking much happier than when I first came. One thing in particular that struck my attention was the size of the Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) leaves. I knew they grew to be large in size, but didn’t know when, since the beginning of last month they were shorter than the length of one of my fingers. Now, however, I measured one of the larger ones relative to my field notebook, and the leaf was about 1.5 notebooks long, which I will measure in centimeters or inches if I can find a ruler. The Big Leaf trees were covered in such leaves, even when we looked at one that had been struck by lightning a long time ago. I wonder how much it takes for lightning to kill a tree, because this one had a huge section missing in its trunk, but looking up we could see all the new leaves growing from the damaged tree. Are trees adapted to live with lightning? I mean they must be somewhat, but how much? Did lightning used to be more common in the area than it is now? Regardless, as compared to the first time I was here, it was much more noticeable that this tree is an abundant species in the park. I think this is due to the fact that it was such a big park and hard for me to take in all at once in my first visit, or whether the small to no leaved trees weren’t as noticeable with the evergreen shrubs and trees eminent in the forest before. Other plants I noticed at first were Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) which interestingly looked pretty much the same as when I first saw it, and Oregon grape, both pale and tall kinds with berries beginning to ripen. Near the center, I found many different plants most native, including Red Columbine (Aquilegia formosa), Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoechas) with a Yellow-Faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii) pollinating its flowers, Oregon Iris (Iris tenax), California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica) (flowers bright orange), and Pacific Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum) with larger purple flowers.

After these initial observations, I went on a walk at 1pm with a naturalist named Ed from the center, one who’s especially into birding. I learned a lot from him both about plants and birds, beginning at the bird feeders behind the center. He mentioned that the male in the species Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus), a type of woodpecker who makes a sound kieck kieck kieck, will try to find a tree on which his peck sounds loudest and louder than other males to attract females. I’d like to observe these birds in closer detail sometime, apparently, they nest in tree cavities, eat beetles, ants and other insects from the ground, and migrate in the winter, which would partly support my not seeing them in the colder months; then again I’m still learning to identify their call so that could be another factor. Ed also talked about the Brown Creeper (Certhia americana), and the Red Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), and the fact that they can both feed on the same tree because the former goes up the tree, and the latter moves down, so both get a different perspective on the food availability. We saw both birds on our walk, but only the Brown Creeper hopping up/scaling a Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) tree. Another thing I found fascinating was the fact that the number of “dees” you hear in a Chickadee’s song indicates their mood. If they’re happy there will be more “dees”, but if there might be a predator around or another territorial bird, the song will be short with only one or two “dees.” The research on bird calls and communication seems quite interesting, but also potentially complicated, and I’d like to learn more about other findings. Black-Capped Chickadees (Parus atricapillus) are definitely one of the more common birds found in the park, but so are Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia, American Robins (Turdus migratorius), Dark Eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis), and American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos), all of which we saw often today in the park. There are definitely other birds as well, but in the forested woods and grassy fields we walked through today, these were most conspicuous, probably because they are all diurnal, meaning they are active during the day. Crepuscular was another word he used, which means active at dawn and dusk, which is really when these birds are most lively. We also found a Bush Tit (Psaltriparus minimus) nest hanging in a tree. The nest looked like a sock, and is apparently made of materials such as spider webs, lichen, moss, fir needles; Ed mentioned that some of their predators, owls and crows, (snakes if the nest is on the ground), go for the eggs in the nest since they are high protein, but the nest of the Bust Tit is pretty well protected because of its shape, most likely adaptive, but why don’t other birds build their nests in the same fashion? This seems like a pretty good idea considering predators, but maybe other birds are too large to build a sock nest that actually works for its young. Then again, one of the birds we talked about at the Burke Museum made nests in colonies that seemed as if they would be hard to access, but maybe not in the way of the Bush Tit.

While we were talking about birds, I noticed a few things I hadn’t before. First, similar to the Big Leaf Maple situation, the Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) was very abundant, a shrub every few yards in some places. I won’t forget what this is because of its soft leaves, strangely similar to the Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus) leaves. Why is this? Is there a benefit to having soft and fuzzy leaves? Few plants in the park have this, and I’m wondering what it’s for. Another question I have is about the new sprouts of needles on the fir trees, whether they have a name, and why they only extend from the tip a couple inches. I also learned that all pine cones hang down from the tree and fall, while fir cones grow upwards, something I hadn’t noticed before. Ed also pointed out another new phenomenon when we past Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora), with white flowers coming up. The thing is, although most of the flowers were white a few were slightly purple. He said this is actually a way in which a plant ensures its pollination. The change in color from a white to purple tells pollinators the pollen in that part of the flower is past its prime, and not worth pollenating. This works out for both the plant and pollinator, and apparently happens in Trillium as well. I find it amazing that this happens, especially when looking back at the purple trillium we saw last weekend on the field trip. Someone mentioned something about it being older, but didn’t make the connection with the pollen and pollinators. In changing to a purple color, what changes for it to look different to bees and butterflies? I know their vision is different than ours and wonder what effect this has.

Ed talked a bit about owls as well, and resolved my question of what is that white wash on the side of the Douglas Fir tree. There are a few different kinds of owls in Seward Park, but we talked in particular about the Barn Owl (Barn Owl (Tyto alba). Apparently owls have two stomachs, because when they catch their prey, (rodents, birds, etc.) they can’t digest the bones, feathers, or hair. After eating their meal, they act like a cat coughing up a hairball. In fact, they are very much like cats in that they don’t want to make a mess in their own home, so they go somewhere else to do their business. Therefore they pick a tall tree, such as Douglas Fir as their “vomatorium,” which is where one can collect owl pellets and see the white washed trunk of the tree. I saw two such trees today, both on the edge of a large grassy meadow, perhaps because this is closest to where the owls hunt.

Another thing he talked about is crows, and how smart they can be. I’ve seen and heard a few things about crows recently. At the zoo the other day we found a baby squirrel being attacked by a crow, and no matter how we tried to chase it away, it was determined until we took the baby squirrel away, as if it knew we’d give up eventually. Someone mentioned that in some places, crows will drop nuts in the road for the cars to run over and crack, so they don’t have to do the work. What Ed said today was just as if not more fascinating. He told us about an experiment Joe Marzluff from the UW did on crows. Apparently, he took a Dick Cheney mask and went repeatedly to a particular pair of crows’ nest, and shook them up, scaring them and then leaving. He did this until the pair laid a clutch, banding the birds and leaving for the time being. Tracking the birds later on, he went to the young of the birds in the eggs he hadn’t harassed, to see what would happen. First, he walked around the tree without the mask, and the crows ignored him. He returned again with the mask on however, and the baby crows were scared of the mask. This shows that somehow, the grandparents of these babies were able to communicate the meaning and fear of the mask across generations, an act quite sophisticated and intelligent in my opinion. This is definitely relevant and brings new light to all the crows I see in the park and elsewhere. Are crows native here? Is there intelligence indicative of their future success, or is it just another adaptation?

Wow, I guess you learn a lot when you spend a whole day somewhere. Following the discussions on birds, we went further into the woods, finding on the outskirts a Black Cottonwood tree (Populous balsamifera), with large leathery leaves that looked like ace of spades. These leaves were a fair amount larger than those we saw at Skykomish last weekend, about the length of my notebook, though I’m not sure why. Just skimming through the history of these trees, one can see they were used for a variety of purposes, for example, the rotten leaves of the tree were boiled and used for rheumatism, the cottonwood used for fuel in smoking fish, the bark used to make buckets to carry food, and the gum from the buds used to make waterproof boxes and baskets. There are many other uses of the plant but these are some I find particularly interesting, and wonder whether people still use them today, and where the materials we do use for things such as waterproofing come from. Also, on the edge of the forest was Highbush-Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum), with new white flowers and a few berries (three) hanging below the leaves. I also didn’t know that the mice on the fir cone are called bracts, although apart from the fable I still don’t know the real purpose of these differences as compared to pine cones. Maybe it has something to do with the growing up or down thing I mentioned earlier.
Farther in the forest we found, as usual, lots of Scouring Rush Horsetail, with sticky stems growing to about a foot off the ground. Located in pretty much the same place as I’ve seen them the last few times, and other than maybe being a little greener, I didn’t notice any significant changes. We past the stretch of Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), which a few weeks ago had only a number of pink flowers, now covered in berries, that look almost ripe enough to be eaten. More buttercup, also didn’t notice this before without the flowers, but can now make the connection between flowers and leaves, and it is actually quite abundant, growing low to the forest floor. Apparently it’s scientific name “ranunculus” means little frog, perhaps because it grows in an area frogs tend to live. We also saw Euthanage or the Piggy Back Plant (Tolmiea menziesii), and Large-leaved Avens (Geum Macrophyllum) which means I can finally distinguish them and Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora), something that’s been bugging me since the field trip. The first, the Piggy Back plant, had copper colored flowers; the Avens, yellow flowers, and the Fringecup, white flowers and all three do have a different leaf shape, although they look very similar at first. The Tolmiea was growing near thimbleberry, buttercup, and we found it for the first time going deeper towards the oldest and probably wettest part of the park/forest.

We heard a Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) in surrounding big leaf maples, and nearby there was a large ‘field’ of sword ferns. Uninterrupted, this field was interesting to see; there were hundreds of ferns probably the most I’ve seen in one place. Apparently, the mountain beaver, who likes to eat the fronds of these ferns, lives nearby underground. This is also an ideal hunting ground for larger owls who prey on the beaver. We past a Western Hemlock tree (Tsuga heterophylla), with missing needles on its lower branches closer to the ground. This is the first one I’ve seen in the park; I’m sure there are more, but they don’t seem especially common.

Moving closer to the lake again we saw Gadwall ducks (Anas strepera), and Western Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa), with orange flowers in bloom from space between leaves, the plant about 20yds from shore, the ducks, in the water, less than 10 feet from us, the female looking similar to the mallard, but the male with different markings.

Species List:
Nootka Rose (Rosa nutkana)
Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens)
Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)
Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)
Red Columbine (Aquilegia formosa)
Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoechas)
Yellow-Faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii)
Oregon Iris (Iris tenax)
California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
Pacific Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum)
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Barn Owl (Tyto alba)
Black-Capped Chickadee (Parus atricapillus)
Brown Creeper (Certhia americana)
Red Breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis),
Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Dark-Eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Bush Tit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta)
Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)
Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora)
Black Cottonwood tree (Populous balsamifera)
Highbush-Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum)
Scouring Rush Horsetail (Equisetum hyemale)
Common Horsetail (Equisetum arvense)
Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis),
Piggy Back Plant (Tolmiea menziesii),
Large-leaved Avens (Geum Macrophyllum)
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
Western Hemlock tree (Tsuga heterophylla),
Gadwall ducks (Anas strepera)
Western Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum)
Western Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa)