Final Journal: Natural History of the Schmitz Park to Alki Trail

June 4
6pm
Overcast
Location: Trail linking Schmitz park preserve to alki neighborhood, beach, and a publc sports park. Adjacent to resdential neighborhood and a small creek, only about 3 blocks from alki beach on the Puget Sound coast.

The pathway was a thin corridor of mostly natural habitat, surrounded by the residential horticultural scene, and often subject to pedestrian and canine traffic, and the sounds of softball being played n the nearby park. However I think that it is possible to distinguish the horticultural from the native in this setting. For comprehensive species descriptions and individual observations see the referenced inaturalist observations for this post at schmitz park.

The canopy was less than 50% tree cover in most places, making this an deal habitat for the shrubby pioneering species that ere prevalent, and the wide varieties of forbs. The pathway grew wetter and darker as you proceeded towards schmitz park (NE), and just as you would enter the park, the prevalence of stinging nettle, and western redcedar increased. This I think was because of the increasing proximity to the nearby creek.
Of the horticultural plants, the maple trees neatly ligned up along the esge of the pathway were the most clear. The red-osier dogwoods, and the prevalence of many dog roses indicate that they too were most likely planted. Those are not species that I commonly associate ith dominant flora.
The natural dominating understory was comprised largely of snowberry, thimbleberry, sword ferns, horse tail, and a variety of forbs that included buttercups, fringe cups, large-leaved avens, himalayan blackberry, a single sited stem of english ivy (which i pulled up), dock leaves, and a few stinging nettles, as well as a few other individually sited species.

The bird species were comprised of many of the local common residents. I spotted the smooth brown feathered winter wren with hs upright head and upright stubby tail for the first time clearly through my binoculars on ths trip. Also consistently flying overhead were two violet green sallows. There were american crows, a song sparrow (see observations), A hummingbird flew overhead that I assume was an anna's hummngbird because of the speed of its flight and that it went into the top of a tree, although im not certain. The calls of a robn and a spotted towhee could be heard at some point. Additionally there was an interesting call hich i did not identify, but can describe as a rising whistle like trill followed immediately by four or sometimes five chirps that sounded like tv laser beam sound effects "pew pew pew pew". This call was sounded repeatedly from a nearby tree that i couldnt pinpoint.

species list
Maple Tree (Genus Acer) (not bigleaf maple)
Bigleaf maple
western redcedar
red alder
Douglas-fir
Grass
Dog Rose (Rosa canina)
Blackcap raspberry (Rubus leucodermis)
Indian Plum (Oemleria cerasiformis)
English Ivy
Snowberry
himalayan blackberry
carrot family
california hazel
Dandelion
pacific ninebark
large-leaved avens
fringe cups (Tellima grandifolia)
Red-Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea)
broad-leaved dock (Rumex obtusifolius)
estern buttercup (Rananculus occidentalis)
Bumble bee
Violet green swallow
winter wren (Troglodytes troglodytes)
song sparrow
American robin (Turdus migratorius)
Anna's Hummingbird

Posted on June 5, 2012 04:03 PM by robertmarsh