June 4, 2012

Daily Account #19- West Duwamish Greenbelt

6/4- this was my destination for my final journal entry. however, i have to preface this by saying that i was not very comfortable walking alone, in a part of seattle i was unfamiliar with/a very industrial part of west seattle, in the forest with semi trucks driving by and a very sketchy looking, one-car sized gravel parking lot for me to stop in, and a huge bag of garbage greeting me first thing by small creek running through the greenbelt. in fact, i had a really hard time figuring out how to start walking in the forest in the first place, and just happened to turn somewhere and find this little opening, otherwise i would have had to park in some factory and try to tromp/trailblaze up a steep slope of trees!

in any case, i was not comfortable walking alone here, so i didn't spend enough time to sketch things and i only walked so far as i could still see my car. i still observed a large diversity of species, but i wanted to make the situation clear.

there was a small sign outside that said "West Duwamish Greenbelt Walking Trail" and the coordinates i was given to get to this general area (but not to this actual opening) were:

Lat: 47.53067100000, Lon: -122.39751900000

it was very overcast, not sunny but very bright out, no wind or rain, 50 F.

the first thing i noticed was how loud it was- not only from the trucks driving by on the outside, but also how many bird calls i could hear on the inside. i really wish i had been able to identify them, but i don't know bird calls well enough. the only species i could confirm were crows, which i saw flying through the trees. nevertheless, it was quite a choir- this must be good bird habitat (although i wonder what specifically about it makes it so? this area strikes me as industrial/not residential, so in some ways it's probably less disturbed re: people walking through, but in other ways i would imagine it would be more, re: pollution). it reminded me of the UBNA in the sense that it was a restoration area, and seemed to be flourishing- both in flora and fauna.

it was a very lush, verdant forest, and dense as well. many of the trees seemed quite tall (50' or higher? i'm not the best at estimating heights, but i felt very enclosed in the forest, as in the trees seemed to tower and create a fairly thick canopy). though they were tall, all trees were relatively thin.

the dominant trees (at least in the beginning of the trail) were black cottonwoods, bigleaf maples, and red alders. there were a few sightings of other trees that were unfamiliar to me, but these were the predominant trees in the area. i also noticed saplings of western red cedars planted in woodchips near the front of the trail. because this was a restoration area, there were patches of woodchips and several plants or trees that were marked with certain colors.

the understory had quite a diversity of recurring species, all looking very healthy and lush. among these were himalayan blackberry, thimbleberry (which was flowering and fruiting), snowberry (which was starting to show some pink buds), swordfern, oregon grape, horsetails, herb robert (which was flowering), a different kind of buttercup than the one i saw at my house- which i have yet to identify (this was largely done flowering, and most plants had little spiky balls left instead of flowers), and largeleaf avens.

the largeleaf avens (and other weeds that i've seen growing in my own yard) were bigger here than i've ever seen anywhere else. the plants in this greenbelt just seemed to be very healthy and large.

there was also a small creek running adjacent to the trail, and some boulders on the ledge between the path and the creek. i noticed that there was copious amounts of moss on the rocks and some dead logs, but not so much on the upright trees themselves. i also observed little to no lichen on any of the trees- which makes a lot of sense, considering the amount of pollution that must come through from the semis and the factories!

species list:
American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Horsetail (Equisetum)
Herb robert (Geranium robertianum)
Black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa)
Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)
Largeleaf avens (Geum macrophyllum)
Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)
Oregon-grape (Mahonia aquifolium)
Sword fern (Polystichum munitum)
red alder (Alnus rubra)
bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum)
western red cedar (Thuja plicata)
Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus)
buttercup (Ranunculus)

Posted on June 4, 2012 05:50 PM by akumar akumar | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Daily Account #18- fungi and forbes tours

5/24- we were in the UBNA for the fungi and forbes class tours. i didn't take many notes, but i did note things i thought were interesting or questions that i had.

it was a beautiful day- very muggy, very sunny, in the 60s F, light wind, and the ground was wet from previous rains.

before even starting class, i was actually walking on the gravel path alongside the creek, and saw a red-headed, large black-bodied woodpecker with a black and white striped neck, totally going at it on a dead upright wooden tree trunk in the water. it was pecking away at a little over my height on the trunk. i was amazed at the force with which it was throwing its head at the tree! i couldn't help thinking that if it got mad at us watching, and somehow decided to start pecking at our heads, that it would be a very painful experience...

in one of the fungi stations we looked at jelly fungus growing on a fence- it was bright orange, small, and had a gelatinous consistency. but it made me wonder- why is jelly fungus so vibrant? does the color serve and evolutionary purpose? it was so unlike any of the other species we saw that day.

we also learned that 500 million years ago, there were 27' tall mushrooms! they dominated the landscape for about 40 million years. that sounds so epic and strange at the same time.

the forbes group explained that forbes are flowering herbacious plants. the most interesting species we learned about was skunk cabbage- which has that stink to attract its pollinators. it also makes its own body heat, and digs itself deeper into the ground by contracting its roots- essentially, its roots look and act like earth worms!

Posted on June 4, 2012 03:45 AM by akumar akumar | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Daily Account #17- class trees tour

5/22- today we took a tour with the trees group on campus. i didn't take heavy notes because we were familiar with a number of trees they described, but i did take notes that i thought were interesting on species i did and didn't know previously.

we started the tour at 1:30 from the fountain, while there was a light rain and it was probably 50 F, but no wind.

i started in the heron rookery, where i learned that the western red cedar is not actually a cedar, but is in the cypress family. and also to note that the needles are braided. i also learned that the same Meany who Meany Hall is named after planted some of the first trees on campus!

in the interim to the next station, the sun came out!

the next station was at the uw farm where there is a giant horse chestnut tree. we did crayon rubbing of the bark and learned that the spiky things the tree drops are actually poisonous to horses, hence the name.

on the burke we stopped at a madrone tree and learned that the bark is always cold, because there is no dead layer separating the outside world and the inner workings of the tree, so you can feel everything. i also learned that saplings are prone to mortality without fires, which i think is a pretty uncommon characteristic.

i learned that doug firs are actually members of the pine family, as well as deodar cedars. these trees have downhanging branches and dark and light colored needles on each branch- they're very beautiful and several of them line steven's way outside of the greenhouse.

i also learned that the papery wafers i have seen everywhere on campus are made by english elms- but scientists think that the wafers are sterile (don't actually make new trees). the jury's out on that one.

Posted on June 4, 2012 03:27 AM by akumar akumar | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Daily Account #16- Union Bay Natural Area

5/31- while we were walking back from class after learning about waterfowl in the UBNA, i saw a crow having a scuttle with a mouse! it was a high-powered battle. the first thing i saw was a crow flying really close to the ground on a path perpendicular to ours, swooping down and pecking at a tiny mouse darting back and forth on the path. within thirty seconds the crow had the mouse in its beak and flew up into a nearby tree to (presumably) devour it. however, the tree was right over some shallow water, and the crow dropped the mouse into the water. i wonder if this was intentional? i doubt it. in any case, the noises the mouse was making were very distinct, and distinctly stopped after the drop, which means that it drowned. the crow then flew down to the shallow water and seemed to be looking, unsuccessfully, for its fallen prey.

i'm not sure i knew that crows eat mice. would it swallow it whole? do they have the faculties to chew and devour mice? do they eat worms and seeds otherwise? i don't even know a crow's diet, i just know they always eat food that we throw outside of our house, and rummage around garbage cans.

it was a very muggy and warm day- probably mid 60s F, dull sunlight and quite a bit of cloud cover.

Posted on June 4, 2012 03:12 AM by akumar akumar | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Daily Account #15- 145th St NW and NW 1st Ave

6/3- today i decided to walk around my parent's backyard, which is very large and has a number of unkempt areas, to see what wild or invasive things i could find. our neighborhood used to be fairly densely populated with trees as far as residential areas go- but i've seen in the last 10 years large colonies of trees, both across from us and kitty corner to us, be chopped down and replaced by houses. we still have a number of large douglas firs and western red cedars around our house, as well as several plum trees and many species of rhododendrons.

it was 10am when i went outside, with a decent cloud cover above but no wind. i would say it was 50 F, though sun was streaming through and it was definitely set to warm up over the day.

the first wild species i recognized was pacific bleeding heart, which was growing next to a large swordfern and interspersed with some other flowering plants. they were a very pale pink- nothing compared to the vibrant horticultural species that we also had in our yard. i also found several creeping buttercups, which were usually in close proximity to other species, such as grasses or herb robert/poppies/other flowering plants. there would often be a few plants together, but rarely did they take over patches of grass. one species that seemed much more to take over patches of the garden are wild violets, which i identified as the garden violet Viola odorata. these weren't flowering at the time so i can't be 100% sure of the identification, but as i've seen them many years before, they closely resembled the flowers in this species.

i also caught a bumblebee on a rhododendron, which many bees were busy pollinating/collecting nectar from this morning. i wasn't sure how to identify it, but it has a very distinctive bright orange bottom that i tried to use to find an identification that matched this region, which was Bombus rufocinctus.

i also found some other invasives, including horsetail (though i don't know which species), english ivy (which was especially fond of areas along/below a wooden fence we have), foxglove (i don't know if this is technically an invasive, but we never planted any and always have tens come up every year), and lemon balm (which might also not be invasive but i have certainly see it spread like wildfire in unwanted areas).

we also put some food (english muffins) out to see what might come out to get it- and i caught an eastern gray squirrel and a crow snatching the food up. the squirrel was quite content to sit there eating while i took a picture, while the crow was only comfortable flying away with the food and consuming it elsewhere.

species list:
Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens)
Bumblebee (Bombus rufocinctus)
Garden violet (Viola odorata)
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)
Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum)
Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa)
Alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
Horsetail (Equisetum)
Common foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)
English ivy (Hedera helix)

Posted on June 4, 2012 03:04 AM by akumar akumar | 1 observation | 0 comments | Leave a comment

June 3, 2012

Daily Account #14- Leavenworth, WA

5/12- the last stop on our field trip was the fine town of leavenworth. we drove into the town a little ways and came to a dry, open grassy and rocky area with boulders stacked to form a hill.

Lat: 47.589393016, Lon: -120.6752387994

it was really hot by this time. before we got out of the car, someone took the temperature and said it was 63 F, but it felt significantly hotter than that. it was also somewhat muggy, and there was little shade to hide under.

the beginning of this site was fairly barren with several smaller plants and dry grasses, with the dominant tree species being ponderosa pine. the pines were scattered over the landscape, not distributed evenly. some of the low-growing plants we saw were yarrow, balsam root (flowering, resembled sunflowers), saskatoon (which we also saw on the west side- flowering on both sides), chocolate lilies (which were beautiful, also flowering), wild peonies (which were fascinating, in how different they look from cultivated peonies you buy at the store), death camus, and further up in forested/shadier areas we also saw indian paintbrush and false solomon's seal.

the heat and dryness also seemed to be good habitat for reptiles, and there were a number of butterflies out as well. we were only able to catch one lizard, a western fence lizard, and i didn't see if any butterflies were caught while we were there.

the ponderosa pines characterized the bottom of the hill, but as we walked up further into the shadier forested areas there were actually mostly a mix of douglas firs, ocean spray, and some maples. climbing up the boulders, i also noticed a number of lichens growing on the rocks, but not sure what kinds.

species list:
Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
common peony (Paeonia officinalis)
Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa)
Saskatoon (Amelanchier alnifolia)
Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)
Indian paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea)
Chocolate lily (Fritillaria affinis)
False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum racemosum)

Posted on June 3, 2012 04:50 PM by akumar akumar | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Daily Account #13- Money Creek, WA

5/12- our third stop on the field trip was called Money Creek Campground.

Lat: 47.729146, Lon: -121.409709

the weather was significantly warmer by this time, probably at least 60 F. it was sunny, warm, still no rain or cloud cover.

this spot was not that far from the forest at Index that we had just walked through, so the habitat was not all that different. there was also a river running through further into the campground, which i assume is still the skykomish river. the same tree species, bigleaf maples and western red cedars, dominated here, although i also saw a number of douglas firs and some hemlocks. in fact, there were some particularly huge douglas fir trees at this site. later we saw some large stumps that were cedars, where you could see springboards chopped in as evidence of logging.

the understory similarly had a number of ferns, but also a large patch of yellow violets and some unique plants, like wild ginger. the wild ginger smelled like lemon balm and had flowers that were hiding under their large leaves. i didn't catch why that was so- are their pollinators on the ground? ants? i also found a number of interesting fungi here, but could not get passed the genus in identifying them. among them were a cup fungus, a fungus that looked like it was oozing down the side of a dead stump, and Mycena haematopus which was found on a dead log and leaked red "blood" when the cap was pulled off.

another interesting thing i found was that while observing the trunk of a doug fir, i found (rather creepy looking) exoskeletons of stone flies hanging onto the mosses and lichens on the trunk. there were very large ones, and ones probably an eighth that size, all bunched up in one area of the trunk. it would have been interesting to see them alive as well.

we also saw forget-me-nots and devil's club on the way back to the car. the forget-me-nots looked very pale blue in comparison to the wild ones i've even seen in my backyard- i wondered if that was a difference in species or if they had just been bleached by the sun.

species list:
Stoneflies (Plecoptera)
Cup Fungus- Family Pezizaceae
Western wild ginger (Asarum caudatum)
Western red cedar (Thuja plicata)
Bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum)
Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
Bleeding fairy helmut (Mycena haematopus)
Forget-me-not (Myosotis)

Posted on June 3, 2012 04:49 PM by akumar akumar | 2 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Daily Account #12- Index, WA

5/12- our second stop on the field trip was in index.

Lat: 47.8206605, Lon: -121.5551086

it was still sunny here, with little to no wind or clouds, but it was probably still mid 50s F.

the first thing we talked about here was that index receives significantly more rainfall than the riparian zone we were just in, and especially compared to the city. index receives 80-90" of rain per year, while seattle receives closer to 35". this manifested itself in high moss growth, which was thickly covering all tree trunks in sight, and fluorishing of ferns like licorice fern growing on the trees as well. there were a number of different types of ferns, including sword fern, lady fern, and wood fern. this forest seemed to be excellent habitat for fungi, as i found several different kinds, and took some of them to noelle to be identified. we usually didn't get passed the genus with most of the fungi found throughout the field trip, which just goes to show how difficult it is to properly identify fungi species!

the forest ground was covered in dead leaves, under which i found some Coprinus mushrooms, and a yellow-spotted millipede curled up. i have a feeling i would have a lot more under those leaves if we had stayed here longer.

growth was pretty dense throughout the forest. some of the dominant trees were western red cedars and bigleaf maples. i noticed some really thick and interesting-looking mosses, but could not identify any of them. some of the other low growing plants we found there was false lily of the valley, thimbleberry, salmonberry, fringe cup, largeleaf avens, and pacific bleeding heart (especially closer to the cars).

just off of the parking lot, i was exploring a dead log on the other side of the road and found some artist's conchs growing horizontally on the log. noelle pulled it off to show the class, explaining that it was probably at least ten years old. i took it in the car and had fun making it a real artist's conch- the part of the fungi used to hold onto the log makes a great stand for the whole thing to sit up and display the art. it's now sitting in my living room!

species list:
Yellow-spotted millipede (Harpaphe haydeniana)
Spiny wood fern (Dryopteris expansa)
Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)
False Lily of the Valley (Maianthemum dilatatum)
Artist's Conch (Ganoderma applanatum)
Genus Coprinus
Largeleaf avens (Geum macrophyllum)
Bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum)
Western red cedar (Thuja plicata)
Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa)

Posted on June 3, 2012 08:31 AM by akumar akumar | 2 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Daily Account #10- Skykomish River E of Goldbar

5/12- today we took our second field trip to 4 different locations between campus and leavenworth. our first stop was at a site adjacent to the skykomish river, east of goldbar.

Lat: 47.8547625, Lon: -121.6773553

the weather was great- very sunny with little wind and no cloud cover. however, it was still morning when we arrived here so it was still probably in the low 50s F. there was great sunlight all around nonetheless.

this was a riparian area, which meant that it is by a river- in this case the skykomish river. the forest was fairly dense, and mostly deciduous, characterized by black cottonwoods (which are common in riparian areas) and bigleaf maples, but also some red alders, and beaked hazelnut trees that looked like red alders (similarly displaying catkins and having similar leaves) but were distinct, which we could tell from the leaves being more toothed than alders, paler below than above, and less tough than alder leaves. other trees we spotted included vine maple and flowering dogwood (closer to the parking lot).

there were both native and non-native species in this forest. much of the understory in this forest included thimbleberry (which was flowering), salmon berry (which was starting to fruit here!), stinky bob (which was also flowering), snow berry, and trailing blackberry. we also saw some wild strawberry plants, japanese knotweed, indian plum (which was fruiting now as well), scotch broom, sweet vernal grass, and in the parking lot we found some sheep sorrel.

closer to the actual river, the ground was mostly sandy. there we saw a number of cottonwood trees with roots growing out of the trunks, which we learned indicated that the area would flood and soil levels would rise during certain times of the year. that was very interesting to see, and something i don't recall noticing before though i'm sure i've seen.

species list:
Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum)
Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius)
Sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum)
Sheep's Sorrel (Rumex acetosella)
Vine maple (Acer circinatum)
Black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa)
Herb robert (Geranium robertianum)
Beaked Hazel (Corylus cornuta)
Wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca)
Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)
Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)
Salmonberry (Rubus ursinus)
Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)

Posted on June 3, 2012 07:53 AM by akumar akumar | 6 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Daily Account #9- 76th St. NW and Linden Ave

5/16- today i decided to talk a walk in my sister's neighborhood of greenlake, down 76th ave NW between Linden and Fremont Ave, and observe some of the plants that were lining the sidewalk. i tried to distinguish between what looked planted and what looked wild, just to see what kinds of wild or invasive species exist in the urban environment as well as forested areas.

it was a fairly warm, sunny day in the 60s F, little to no wind, a dry day overall (not muggy). i found that most plants were horticultural, but i did see a number of species that were either invasive or wild. among them were wild hyacinths (bluebells?) that i saw growing in some peoples' front lawns where the grass was longer (uncut), morning glory (bindweed) choking other plants, dandelions (in lawns and also in cracks on the sidewalk), pansies were growing wild in cracks in the sidewalk as well, stinky bob was also seen growing as a weed in some unkempt yards, english ivy and salal were occasionally spotted growing on/about rocky structures or ledges that people had in the front of their yards, and i also saw a lot of candytuft that didn't always look very intentional/spreads quickly, but was probably planted there.

species list:
Wild hyacinth (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)
Morning glory (Ipomoea)
Dandelion (Taraxacum erythrospermum)
English ivy (Hedera helix)
Stinky bob (Geranium robertianum)
Bleeding heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis)

Posted on June 3, 2012 07:24 AM by akumar akumar | 0 comments | Leave a comment

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