jinam22's Journal

On this day our waterfowl group along with the birds group did our student led tours down at the Union Bay Natural Area. Some of us went down to UBNA a bit early to check if the waterfowl were in the places that we expected them to be. Everything seemed okay, but in Tim's station where mallards were very popular, there seemed to be none when we went to check the area before class. Luckily some mallards showed up during a few of Tim's presentation. Kate also brought the species I.D guide which none of us new she was doing, and it turned out to be really nice for our fellow classmates to look at and understand which waterfowl is which. Overall I think our groups presentation went well, though I think the nerves of presenting got to some of us, including myself, as I noticed our timing was slightly off. Other than that I say "good job waterfowl group".

On the mammals tour we focus on a variety of squirrels due to the fact that our campus has no other mammals to support this group. The mammals group started off with a video of squirrels they took footage of and presented it to us in the classroom. I was very impressed with the footage the complied together and also the fact that it tied it really well with each member and the material they presented at their individual station. As we learned, the Eastern Grey squirrels dominate our campus by stunning people with their cuteness and funny antics. It was told that the western grey squirrels were driven out of our campus area by the Eastern Grey squirrels due to competition and dominance. A very interesting thing I learned was how and why squirrels scar tree branches with the teeth to mark territories and also the fact that some of the squirrels build nests!

On our last day of instruction for our Natural history class we went through our last set of tours. The bees group was stationed at the UW farm where the honey bees are kept in their 3 boxed hives. Bees eat nectar and are vital for cross pollination. One of the interesting things I took from the bees groups short presentation was that while the worker bees are making the honey, they flap their wings in order to evaporate the moisture. Thus with all the wing flapping to keep them up in the air, the temperatures in the hive can get up to 98 degrees F as the tour leaders mention. They also cleared up a good distinction about bees whereas solitary bees don't have to produce honey or work because they aren't part of the colony like honey bees.

This day we spent time learning about field sketching from Maria Martin. Maria is an expedition artist, someone who follows a group of people on some sort of expedition to sketch what they see. Maria taught us the fundamental techniques she uses while sketching which include gestures, contouring, subjective/objective sketches, and value.
Maria actually had Josh pose in front of the class as we did rough sketches of his outframe with her fundamental techniques in mind. She encouraged us to squint and use measurement tools to focus on details and also to have the right proportions. Then on 4/12 (thurs) we went out to UBNA to try out some of her techniques on our own, as we each found our own spots and peacefully drew our surroundings. Then we form large groups later on that cloudy day to do speed sketching where we'd pass around our journals and have fellow classmates and teachers do a quick sketch of something they see out at UBNA.

Right in front of my house in Olympia is Grass Lake Nature park. On the weekend of Memorial's day I went back home for the weekend to enjoy one extra day off with family. During the weekend on a sunny May day I headed down to the park which I was already familiar with to see if I could identify some things. As I walked through the park I began to notice that many of the plants here I have already identified. So instead of plants I turned to animals. During my quick visit there I noticed one bird with a white and brown chest, with a dark head on the woodland forest walking around. I took a good look at the bird and sketch it as quick as possible, but luckily it didn't move too far away and stayed long enough for me to get a quick sketch and description. After I did the sketch I turned around to head home a different way to see if I could spot something strange or unusual. Then I stumble upon the a wax current off the trail, and not knowing I was fortunate to have a lovely old couple actually identify the plant for me. Later as I got home, though not as many species that I'd wanted to get, I did research on birds at Grass Lake Nature park and found out that the bird was spotted towhee.

On this bipolar day of sunshine and overcast I decided to go to the Arboretum to try some natural history. It was sunny, bright for the most part, but had some moments where the sun just went away for a little bit. As I approach the inlet I noticed the large lillypads that blanketed the water. This area was also strongly populated by waterfowl and also many songbirds. Along the sides of this inlet there were many hawthorns along with douglas fir trees and cedar trees. As I crossed the Montlake bridge to enter the arboretum I notice one major change from outside the arboretum compared to the inside. As most people will experience the same thing where you immediately get surrounded by wildflowers of various color. Blue, red, white, violet, yellow you name it. Further into the arboretum you start developing much denser areas with larger vegetation as well as softer soil do the water saturation. The arboretum has a ton of biodiversity and also would've been a great place to have done some of our student led tours here.