These are Agrocybe praecox mushrooms growing in a circle called a "Fairy circle." They probably all come from a central source.
Found on Steven's Way across from the Physics and Astronomy Building. These mushrooms grew in large clumps. They are easy to identify by their cracking surfaces.
The evidence I saw of newly hatched baby herons in the rookery by the Chemistry Building included egg shells, a half-eaten piece of fish, and a mass of smelly bird droppings. I also saw at least 2 dead babies that had fallen from their nests. The babies were also very noisy. I heard strange noises from where I was in the medicinal herb garden. I had thought they were baby ducklings, but to my surprise, the noise was very loud and turned out to be tons of baby herons! They were all squawking and they sounded like giant fully grown birds, yet were only babies! I could also see the parents flying from the Lake bringing their babies food and then departing again.
Found dead under all of the heron nests in the copse near the chemistry buildings. It seems to have fallen out of the nest. Its neck was all twisted and perhaps broken and it was swarmed with flies. It seems very young, perhaps only a few days or weeks old.
Black bee-like insect. Had at least two distinctive white stripes on its rear.
Yet another eastern gray from the Arboretum. Very skittish, ran away as soon as I got within 15 feet of it. Good demonstration of how nimble these squirrels are when it comes to climbing.
Another eastern gray from the UW. Slightly more skittish than other individuals on campus.
This squirrel denied all offers of bread and was completely focused on its nut. Did not run away immediately.
Running across road by Kincaid building. Ran away from me.
Eastern gray specimen found in the copse of trees near the chemistry buildings on the UW campus. Three of these squirrels were eating nuts under the trees and this one in particular took the bread we gave it eagerly. These squirrels are clearly very used to people, an important thing to note when out looking for them.
The defining feature of this squirrel that I would like to point out for the purposes of this project are its large testicles, which can be seen in the second picture. This is a good thing to look for as a casual observer attempting to tell these squirrels apart by sex. This particular eastern gray was found eating seeds off of a maple tree in the Arboretum. He also peed on this tree, which I suspect may have been to mark territory. It is important to note that these squirrels at the Arboretum are incredibly skittish compared to their friendly neighboring squirrels at the UW Seattle campus.
This worm was being pecked at by a robin. i saved it and it had a hole in its side. I buried it in dirt before I left.
