April 19, 2012

For more information on the habitat and vegetation of the area in which this dogwood was found and on the weather of the day it was found, please see the journal entry for April 19, 2012 (UW Seattle campus). This western dogwood was about 15 feet tall with a trunk of medium thickness and slim branches. The bark was only mildly rough. I have seen these trees growing all over the UW Seattle campus, so they must be popular for their flowers. Mountain dogwood is a deciduous tree with leaves of an ovate shape and light green flowers that look like little sun hats. The "flowers" bloom from April to June and are actually made up of petal like bracts and smaller flowers in the center of the bracts. These trees usually grow in non-wetland areas.

For more information on the habitat and vegetation of the Union Bay Natural area, please see the journal entry for April 12, 2012 in my written journal and, for information on the weather of the day this was found, please see the journal entry for April 19, 2012 (Union Bay Natural Area) here on iNaturalist. This coot I observed was floating along in one of the larger ponds near the edge of Union Bay in the Union Bay Natural Area. It would not let me get close, so the pictures I took of it are not as good as I would like, but one can still see the characteristic white beak and black feathers on the bird. The individual I observed was about a foot long and was the only one of its kind that I was able to find in the entire area on any of the days I visited. These birds prefer wetland areas, which explains why it was living in the Union Bay Natural Area, and are common on the Pacific coast of North America during the breeding season. These birds have a very difficult time taking off, but they have great stamina once in the air. They are territorial during the breeding season but gather in large flocks outside breeding season.

For more information on the habitat and vegetation of the Union Bay Natural area, please see the journal entry for April 12, 2012 in my written journal and, for information on the weather of the day this was found, please see the journal entry for April 19, 2012 (Union Bay Natural Area) here on iNaturalist. I know I already have one of these birds down as an observation from Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, but this was such a good shot of the bird I had to include it as well.

For more information on the habitat and vegetation of the Union Bay Natural area, please see the journal entry for April 12, 2012 in my written journal and, for information on the weather of the day this was found, please see the journal entry for April 19, 2012 (Union Bay Natural Area) here on iNaturalist. The scotch broom grew in patches in areas of the Union Bay Natural Area close to Union Bay itself. It had not taken over the entire area as this species usually does, but was limited to certain locations in small clusters. Not all individuals had actually flowered yet, but this particular one that I observed had. It was about 5 feet tall with many small, yellow flowers growing on tall, thin stalks with small leaves. Scotch broom is native to Europe, but it has been introduced all over America along highways and it has spread like a weed all over the place as a result. Scotch broom is considered an invasive species but it does fix nitrogen into the soil.

For more information on the habitat and vegetation of the Union Bay Natural area, please see the journal entry for April 12, 2012 in my written journal and, for information on the weather of the day this was found, please see the journal entry for April 19, 2012 (Union Bay Natural Area) here on iNaturalist. I was extremely surprised to find such a large group of these birds. At least four of them were sitting on a tiny island of land about 100 feet off the shore of Union Bay Natural Area in Union Bay. I thought there were six at first, but two of them flew away and proved to be great blue herons by their raucous screeching calls. I was able to identify them as double crested cormorants by the small patches of orange beneath their beaks that is hard to distinguish in the picture. These birds hunt by swimming and diving for fish and, since their feathers are not water proof, they have to spend time drying out their feathers before they can fly. This explains what these four cormorants were doing sitting on this island of land. They are widely distributed across North America and prefer to live in waterways or coastal areas, which explains why they were living in the Union Bay Natural Area and in the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge near the Nisqually River. The individuals I saw were all about 2 feet tall and all had black feathers and large wings. They did not, as far as I could tell, have their breeding plumage with white crests on their heads. During breeding season, these birds will build nests in trees, on cliffs, or on islands and their breeding always occurs in coastal areas or river areas.

The bird in the distance is a male bufflehead from UBNA, the second picture is of a female bufflehead from the nearby Magnuson Park.
For more information on the habitat and vegetation of the Union Bay Natural area, please see the journal entry for April 12, 2012 in my written journal and, for information on the weather of the day this was found, please see the journal entry for April 19, 2012 (Union Bay Natural Area) here on iNaturalist. This picture of the bufflehead isn't nearly as good as it could be. The few buffleheads I saw in the Union Bay itself were diving for food too far off shore for me to get a better shot and the ones floating in the small pond in the center of the Union Bay Natural Area kept going behind trees and out of range of my camera. I was able to identify them as buffleheads by their black and white coloring, which was obvious even from that distance, and from their diving, as buffleheads are diving birds. These birds are known as sea ducks and they are among the smallest American duck species. I could not get an accurate idea of the size of the bird I observed, but I think it might have been about a foot long. It was most certainly male, as the females are brown with a small white patch on the sides of their heads. They are common in open inland waters and coastal areas on the east and west coasts of the United States, which explains why they were living in and around the Union Bay Natural Area. As I mentioned, they are diving birds and eat crustaceans, mollusks, insects, fish eggs, and aquatic plants. Buffleheads are monogamous and they go to the same breeding sites every year. They are popular among bird watchers for their black and white plumage.