May 12th - Field Trip · iNaturalist

On May 12th, our natural history class went on a field trip to Leavenworth, Washington, along with several other locations along the way.

Goldbar, WA - 9:17 am
44 degrees in the shade, somewhat clear skies

We first discovered a vine maple next to the parking spot for our van, and discussed the difference in leaf shape and size in comparison to a big leaf maple. We also looked at Cascara (which can be used as a laxative), twinflower (a plant named by Carl Linneas), hazelnut, and saskatoon.

We continued down the path where we observed honeysuckle, thimbleberry, bleeding heart, and japanese knotweed (an invasive plant species). We reached the water where we saw a cottonwood exhibiting advantageous rooting because of the its location on a flood plain. Susan caught a bombus bee which we photographed. Further down the trail we saw scotch broom (with yellow "talking flowers" that require a heavy bee to pollinate), horsetail and indian plum. We stopped to talk about an invasive grass that Susan spotted, which we identified as sweet vernal grass, an invasive grass that is slowly moving north from California. We also spotted an American robin, hermit warbler, and flowering dogwood.

Then we packed up and headed to our next location.

Species List