Journal Entry #4 - April 24, 2012
Burke Museum – UW Campus Seattle
In conducting our tour of the ornithology area, the tour guide advised that ornithology provides very useful information regarding bird physiology. He stated that dental records, skeletal and tissue specimens, and wing spread can provide useful information in comparing bird fossils to identify species type. He states that archive analysis follows a two-dimensional approach through time and space and is used to acquire useful data to compare and track changes throughout time in bird populations. He advised that stable-isotope analysis can be used to find out what animals were eating and how this changes through time – especially important considering the major anthropogenic changes to animal habitats – as well as migration and hybridization zones of different bird species. One thing I wasn't expecting was to be directed to an area where they were skinning a cougar leg. It was pretty graphic and I would have liked some warning.
April 27, 2012
Gas Works – Seattle, WA
Weather: extensive cloud cover, cold, extremely windy.
While at Gas Works I observed a flock of unidentified birds playing in the wind. It was quite interesting to watch how agile these birds were and how much fun they seemed to be having shooting, twisting, diving, and flipping through the wind. They were quite small, black on the back/wing area, white on the belly area, with a horizontal white stripe just above the base of their tail feathers. I tried looking this bird up and could not distinguish the species. While there, I observed huckleberry almost in bloom and Canadian geese at the water’s edge.
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