The Douglas Fir has pinecones that are slightly longer than most which make the tree itself easy to spot. The bark of the doug. fir has a stringy look to it and the branches have dark green needles with a lighter green tip.
Although this picture is blurry, there were at least 8 Robins on the lawn near the parking lot all looking for food in the wet grass. It was about 11am when I saw these Robins which is about when they seek out worms.
The squirrels were all over this park especially near the parceling lot and picnic area, which fits their tendencies to eat left over scraps and how unafraid they are of humans.
The Western Red Cedar is another common tree to the northwest and gives off a very specific smell that makes it easy to identify.
This mosquito is on the center leaf and a little hard to spot because of the lighting. There were mosquitoes everywhere in the park because of the creek close by and the warmer temperatures.
The Common Ivy was a little farther back from the trail but was mixed in with the ferns and other smaller trees.
There is no spittlebug in the picture above but just its trace left on plants. On many of the plants lining the trail edge there were these clumps of a spit looking substance left on its stem and branches.
The sword fern is one of the most familiar plants because it grows in forested areas and parks, like Carkreek. To tell the difference between the sword fern and the deer fern is on the sword fern there are little orange colored bumps underneath the leaves that are powdery to the touch.
This is crostose lichen because of its resemblance to coral in shape and the pale blue/whitish coloring. There was a lot of lichen growing on trees in the park indication good air quality.
The big-leaf maple was one of the trees that grew the most in Carkreek Park and was easy to spot because of its leaves.
The deer fern is another common ground plant growing in the northwest that was all over the trails in the park. It's leaves are very big and grow in a pyramid shape.
I have spotted horsetail growing in many other locations in the Seattle area and at this park they grew almost 4 feet tall. At my location I was right along a creek so the marshy habitat allowed for the horsetail to thrive and grow in large numbers.
The salmonberry plant has berries that resemble blackberries and raspberries but the plant itself is much taller and grows vertically as opposed to along the ground. The stems do have thorns but not as many as are found on the Himalayan Blackberry.
The tall buttercup is very common in this region and grows about a foot from the ground. The buttercup grew right on the trail edge in the whole park and was often next to Deer Fern or Ivy.
The hermit thrush is brown white a lighter underbelly. It is very, very round and has an odd shape but flits around from branch to branch quickly. Its call is described as a 'tchup' sound and is loud. Among the other calls in the park it was very distinguishable.
The Eastern Gray Squirrel is the only species of squirrel you will find on UW campus because it is a very aggressive squirrel and chased the Western Gray off campus entirely. They are very urbanized and will often be in garbage cans and foraging on the ground for nuts.
This fungus is commonly referred to as a shelf fungus because of its flat shape and grows perpendicular to the tree. It is usually brown and can be found on almost any tree.
The buttercup is easily recognizable because of the bright yellow petals. This species is different than buttercups found in lawns or grassy parks because it grows roughly 10-12 inches off the ground.
Queen Anne's Lace grows tall in comparison to the other flowering plants found in this area and does not have much color to it. The flower itself is flat and round at the top of the stem and looks like a lace pattern.
This lupin has pink flowers that droop down from the leaves and open at the base. The leaves are pointed and narrow.
You can recognize this type of mushroom because of the dark purple and black coloring. They grow in clusters and in urban areas.
Also known as the japanse-parasol mushroom because of its resemblance to the parasol with the ridged cap. The first picture shows an older mushroom and the second is a newly sprouted one, you can tell by the red cap.
This is also known as yellow-jelly fungus and is the first to appear after rainfall. It can grow all season but usually during the fall-spring because of more rain.
The stereum fungus can be identified by its orange color and its somewhat flaky appearance.
This fungus resembles the turkey-tail in the way it fans out from the tree except it is all white.
This type of fungus is black and looks like lava rocks. It grows in clumps and usually on logs or trees.
Ladybugs are commonly found in grassy areas and open fields around flowers. Their bodies are all red with black spots lining its back.
The turtle was black with only a little bit of coloring on its head. I was too far away to get a close enough look but the color was either red or yellow in two streaks. It is not very big, smaller than a large pizza.
The aspen tree is very common to this area and originated in North America. The white, smooth bark is unique to the aspen tree and grows a lot in the marshy area.
