April 24, 2012

Location: Ravenna Park

Coordinates: 47.6715421, -122.303767

Weather: The sky was overcast and it was a moderately windy day. The temperature was a mild 59 degrees Fahrenheit and it began to drizzle around 6.00pm, though the rain stopped by 6.30pm. The lighting was still fairly good even though the sun was completely obscured all day. It was rather muggy outside despite the cloud cover and temperature.

Habitat: There are three parts to Ravenna Park. The first, which is just off University Way, is just a park with empty, grassy fields and a playground. There are only a few trees and flowering plants in this area and it is very groomed. The second part is the forest proper. The path runs along a small stream that gets wider as it progresses through the forest toward the third part of the park near University Village. The forest is full of towering trees and is home to many birds large and small and interesting native species of plants. The area around the stream is very muddy and is home to many wetland species like horsetails and skunk cabbage. The streams look like they could be a good place for frogs to live. I have never seen any mammals living in the forest area, though I'm sure they are there somewhere. I assumed they wouldn't like to come out because of the many dogs that come through the forest with their owners. This area mostly contains varying and interesting plant species and all sorts of different birds, though I have seen only a few of them so far. The final area of Ravenna Park is just a baseball field, though the stream runs on its left side and pools into a larger area where it runs down a large drain to somewhere else.

Vegetation: Ravenna Park is dominated by deciduous trees, the majority of which are bigleaf maples. There are a few large conifers, however, that strike impressive figures in the forest by their sheer size, but they are not nearly as evenly distributed as the maples. Plants growing on the forest floor are western skunk cabbage, which is extremely dominant, and western lady fern, another common sight. There is also plenty of Himalayan blackberry and ivy of various species. The most variation in plant species comes in the plants growing on the forest floor rather than the large trees and shrubs, which are all fairly similar. The area by the river is a good place for all sorts of wetland species to grow and there is a lot of variation even in areas further away from the river. There were few flowering plants and the ones that were there were located near the path. Most of the plants near the river and under the trees were, for example, ferns and did not flower.

General Comments: I came with the intention of identifying birds, but I was thoroughly disappointed when I could hear them, but not see any of them in the tall trees. I got lucky with the barred owl, another walker pointed it out to me and I got to stand and observe it. The owl was trying to sleep, but it watched me as I stood below it. It was of middling size with stripes on its chest that allowed me to identify it as a barred owl rather than a spotted owl. It was still there when I came back after walking the length of the park and was the highlight of my experience that day. The western skunk cabbage was all over the ground by the stream in the forest. A lot of it was probably planted by organizations with the intent of preserving native species, but it seemed to be flourishing in its habitat and most of them had flowered by now. The western lady fern was another common sight in the forest. It covered the areas next to the path and grew near the stream as well in the forest and the last section of Ravenna. Most of them were large and tall, though a few had not completely unfurled their fronds. I had a hard time identifying this fern as the small divisions in the leaves threw me off. The final species I identified here was the European holly. This singular bush grew in the higher areas of the park's forest near a basketball park and was one of only a few of its kind that I encountered in the area. I believe this is the result of an attempt to preserve native species in the Ravenna Park forest. Ravenna park is a good place to search for observations, just not birds. I got lucky with the barred owl and only heard or caught glimpses of smaller birds. I heard, for example, a woodpecker somewhere in the forest but could not locate it no matter where I went. There are many plant species I could not identify in Ravenna, so it might be good to go back and try again with them at a later date. Perhaps I'll get lucky again and see another interesting species of bird.

Species List:
Barred Owl (Strix varia)
Western skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus)
European holly (Ilex aquifolium)
Western lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina)

Posted on May 1, 2012 08:08 AM by tessaf