anisajackson's Journal

copies of all sketches can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uwbirds/7341031068/in/photostream

April 26, 2012
Location: Burke Museum, Seattle, Washington State

The theme of our Burke Museum visits are really too examine how museums and natural history museums are used as collections to help us create a broader understanding of natural history. The theme for this visit to the Burke Museum was sex, treachery and death. This journal entry will be split into those three sections.
Sex:
In birds it is very common for the males and female birds to have some distinguishable characterizes, the sieberd have color dimorphism and size dimorphism. The male siebirds are very colorful which is a sign that they are fit to produce offspring. The size dimorphism is for the competition they have with males for the female siebirds. Sometimes there is reverse sexual dimorphism, where the female is more colorful or is larger. It is common for this to be based on the parental investment of the birds. Sometimes the males have a larger parental investment than the females. And sometimes when there are larger females the females need to defend themselves/their branch/their mate from other large females. In the Arctic it is common for there to be size dimorphism for the birds. The birds to an aerobatic aerial display to attract mates and a small body correlates with better agility. Smaller males are often related to earlier breeding while larger females can store more energy so that they can lay eggs more commonly.
Treachery:
There are many birds that trick birds of other species to do work for them. The cowbirds for example lay their eggs in another’s birds nest. The bird may try to break the other egg, so that they do not have to incubate it since incubation takes a lot of energy, but in doing that they risk smashing one of their own eggs instead. Some eggs of other birds, may even look like the eggs of the bird’s nest it is in. So sometimes the other birds, (red winged blackbird,yellow warbler) will wait until the eggs hatch and then throw out the cowbird baby. The cowbird baby is so huge, that it is easy for the bird to tell that it is not its own. The cowbird may return to the nest and if she sees that her egg or her baby is not in the nest, she will throw the other birds out of the nest. The cowbird also does not have to be very sneaky when she lays the egg in another nest, since the cowbird is so big and can easily fight off the other smaller birds.
Death (Well really population):
(We ran out of time when we were at that station so there is not a lot to write about.) The death of a species is important when concerning the population, whether the population is stable, growing, shrinking, etc. The growth of one species, is often linked with the decline of another species. For example, when there was a population explosion of bark beetles, which kill the trees they inhabit, the death rate of the trees increased. One input that would increase a population is food. With more food, a species would have more energy for reproduction. Other factors that will affect the population of a species is migration, new species can be introduced to an area, while other species will migrate to a different location, sometimes depending on the population of other species (birds will often migrate when there is a shortage of food).

April 27, 2012
Location: Urban Bay Natural Area 6 am

Today our group went out to observe the birds of the Urban Bay Natural Area in preparation for our group project about the birds around the University of Washington campus. There was a slight overcast and it was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. At the entrance of the Urban Bay Natural Area were 5 Northwestern American Crows and one Brown-headed Cowbird. As we headed onto the trail, one of the first birds we saw was the American Goldfinch. The American Goldfinch has a clear yellow plumage and with binoculars we were able to see the black cap on its head as well as a bit of black sub coloring on the wings. The American Goldfinch was perched at the top of what I believe was an Alder tree. As we continued to walk in the direction of the bridge, we saw many birds that were well known and that we have seen before, like the American Robin and the Northwestern Crow. European settlers named the American Robin, after the English Robin. When the Europeans settlers came to America they saw the American Robin and its clear orange-ish red breast and quickly assumed that it was the same bird as the English Robin. However, the English Robin and the American Robin are completely different birds and are not of the same species or family of birds. When we were close to the water near the west side of the Urban Bay Natural Area we heard a call that sounded like: PEEK!! Tut tut tut tut… I was the one with a camera, so I tried to approach it but each time I got closer it kept flying to a different tree, when we finally caught up to it, we could see that it was clearly just an American Robin, it was extremely disappointing. We did see some male Red-Winged Blackbirds though. They were often found perching on cattails, and they have a large variety of calls, around 25! There was so many of them, and they would often puff out their shoulders when we were near (a sign of aggression most likely) and the red and yellow shoulders contrasted with their almost all black plumage was even more apparent. Near where we saw the Red-winged Blackbird we also saw Black Capped Chickadees. These birds are easy to spot because of their black cap on their head and their distinguishable call, “chicka dee dee dee”. We also saw some Song Sparrows, these birds were sort of round in shape with long slender tail feathers. The Song Sparrows would stay fairly close to the ground, and I think that is because that is where they feed. The song sparrows are of a dull and spotted brown and we saw three of them at the Urban Bay Natural Area. On the way out of the UBNA we heard a call that sounded just like a bullfrog, only there was something about it, perhaps it was the pattern of the call, that made us skeptical about it being a bullfrog. As we approached the location of the sound, we were able to figure out using a bird book that it was actually a Virginia Rail bird, it had a long orange beak and had mostly dark brown/black plumage, it was a bit hard to see as it was hidden behind many branches and it would keep moving every time we were near. Overall, I think it was a pretty successful bird watching trip, we saw a lot of birds that we did not see the last time we came to the Urban Bay Natural Area, however I did see a hummingbird, last time I was there, but the time I saw one I was standing very still. Apparently, if we aren’t really moving around, we appear to be like rocks to the hummingbird, since they move so quickly, but today since we were walking around a lot maybe that was the reason why we didn’t see a lot, or maybe it had to do with the time or the weather. By taking this trip, we were somewhat more familiar with the birds of the University of Washington area.

May 2, 2012
Location: Wilburton Park

Today I went on a walk down the Wilburton Trail of Wilburton Park. I started taking notes once I was in the more secluded areas of the trail. One of the first things I noticed was how the Licorice Fern was a dominant species of the area. There were a few Lady-ferns, I noted three amongst a cluster of 25 Licorice Ferns. Other dominant species included the Big Leaf Maple and the Alder tree. I did see some goose-necked moss growing on what I believe to be an Alder tree. The leaves were up to 1.5 cm long and were of a greenish yellow color, I took a photo and did a small sketch for reference. As I was on the trail, I heard an owl, which was a bit peculiar as it was at 6pm, I was unable to identify it though, but I have seen owls in the afternoon on that trail, plenty of times when I would run there for cross country. After I heard the owl ,which I was unable to identify I saw a small bird climbing on the underneath side of an alder tree branch, it was quite odd, and I don’t think I have ever seen similar behavior. I did not have access to binoculars and the birds were really small and hard to spot. As I walked further a long I noticed one single Holly Tree growing at about 30 feet tall. Most of the trees on this trail that I had seen that day were coniferous though, and the Licorice Fern was almost always found growing underneath them.

Big Leaf Maple
Alder Tree
Goose-necked Moss
Lady Fern
Licorice Fern
Owl?

Today
May 10, 2012
Location: University of Washington Seattle Campus

Today we went on a tour to become more familiar with the fungi around campus. There are three types of fungi, soft rot, white rot, and brown rot. The latter two deal with the decomposition of woody material (bark, woodchips, etc.) One type of fungi that we can find in the Pacific Northwest is the Turkey Tail fungus, which is a white rot species. The Turkey Tail fungus has sort of the shape of a turkey tail as it is sort of scalloped. Other types of mushrooms that can be found in the Northwest are the Oyster mushroom, button mushroom, and Artist’s Conk. On the tour of the fungi around campus we saw some powdery mildew, which looked like white-splotched fungi growing on the surface of the leaves. This type of fungi does not kill the host (the leaves) since then it would be left with no food source, so it is a parasite for the plant, however it will not be the ultimate downfall of the plant. On the cucumber plants near the Botany Greenhouse we saw a fungus that had asexual spores. The fungus was of a orange color. Birch trees must have a microisil relationship with fungus because without it the tree cannot grow, because the fungus provides the trees with nutrients. Sometimes when the tree has access to fertilizer, it no longer will need the fungus, since the nutrients will come from the soil. Sometimes fungi and its host have a parasitical relationship but other times both need the other to survive. It is difficult to find a lot of lichens on campus since we do live in an urban area. Lichens are pollution and air quality sensitive and if the air quality is poor, which it usually is in an urban area, then the population for the lichens decreased. The air quality is often also linked to the discoloring and orange-ish look in the lichens.

May 15, 2012
Location: Killarney Glen Park

Today I went on a walk around the trails of Killarney Glen Park. Today it was raining and probably around fifty degrees Fahrenheit. As I was walking around I noticed that there were a lot of worms on the soil on the trails. This is because it is a lot easier on the worms’ respiratory system to navigate above soil when it rains. I saw two trillium flowers, which are easy to spot by their three leaves and their three white petals. There was a lot of low Oregon Grape, at least 30 feet lengthwise of the trail was bordered by low Oregon Grape. Almost all of the trees on this trail were coniferous, Douglas Firs made up almost 80% of the trees in the area. Western Hemlock and Pacific Silver Fir also grew amongst the Douglas Firs, while the understory was made up mostly of Lady Ferns and Oregon Grape. I also saw a male Mallard, which was odd, but not that odd, since the trail was in close proximity to Lake Washington. The mallard had the bright green/blue/purple head as opposed to its female counterpart which is of a brown dull plumage, a classic example of sexual dimorphism.

Trillium
Oregon Grape
Western Hemlock
Pacific Silver Fir
Douglas Fir
Lady Fern
Mallard

May 23, 2012
Location: Urban Bay Natural Area
Today I returned to the Urban Bay Natural Area to look for more birds of the University of Washington campus area. It was about fifty five degrees Fahrenheit. Near the entrance of UBNA I quickly noticed a Red Winged Blackbird perched upon a tree. A Northwestern Crow kept trying to approach the tree and when it did the Red Winged Blackbird would fly out and attack the Northwestern Crow. I had been doing some research about the Blackbird and one of the qualities that a female searches for in a mate is the size of territory that he can defend. So it made sense why the Red Winged Blackbird was so territorial toward the Northwestern Crow. I saw a few birds that I could recognize as swallows by the forked tail, flying above me, but were not stopping anywhere. Later I reached a pond area, where I was able to see that these birds were the Barn Swallow and with them were Violet Green Swallows. Both birds eat and drink in flight and for this reason it was difficult for me to get any photos of either of the birds since both move so quickly and never stop. Near the pond where the Barn Swallow and Violet Green Swallows were more Red Winged Blackbirds perched upon the cattails, we also saw a brown dull spotted bird about the same size of the male Red Winged Blackbird, we later came to realize that this bird was actually just the female Red Winged Blackbird, with different coloring due to sexual dimorphism. Near these cattails we saw two turtles in the Bay. This was the first time that I have ever seen Turtles at the UBNA, we did not have a field book that was specific for turtles though, so we were unable to identify the specific species. On the way out we saw American Robins, a species that is always abundant every time that I have been to the UBNA, but we also saw a bird that I had not seen before, the Brown-headed cowbird, which was perched upon a deceased tree. This bird was the “mafia” bird we had learned about at the Burke Museum, the bird which lays its eggs in the nests of the Red Winged Blackbird as well as the Yellow Warbler. The Brown-headed cowbird has an all black body but with a Brown head.

Red Winged Blackbird
Northwestern Crow
Violet Green Swallow
Barn Swallow
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Robin

May 28, 2012
Location: Wilburton Park Trail

Today there was overcast and it was approximately 60 degrees Fahrenheit. As I begin the trail, I hear a beeping chirping call, unlike any call I have ever heard, coming out of a paper birch tree, I cannot find the source of the call, so I take notes on the other species of the surrounding area, while I wait for the bird to move to an area, where I can get a good look at it. As I did this, I heard the sound of a woodpecker pecking on wood, maybe this was the same bird that was making the beep-like call, still I cannot find the bird. Near this paper birch is a shrub that has peachish orange fruit and has a red green stem. The fruits are about 2-3 cm long, I have a field book with me, however I cannot find anything nearly similar in the book. This is a plant that I have seen before growing in a more urban setting within 5 feet of a busy street. I take some notes and draw a small diagram in my sketch book and move on to the next plant. Further a long the trail there are two madrone trees, the trees are about 20 feet away from each other and are distinguishable by their smooth orange-ish bark. Underneath the Pacific Madrones are lady-ferns, there are four lady-ferns growing in between these Pacific Madrones. Though I cannot see it, I can hear the call of an American Robin. There are a couple plants that I also was having trouble identifying, so I drew a few sketches in my field book and took some more notes, with hopes that I would be able to identify them later. One of these plants was a shrub with purple and blue downward facing flowers, the leaves of the plant were oval shaped and 5-9 cm long, the shrub was growing underneath a Big Leaf Maple. The trees on this trail are mostly deciduous but farther a long the trail, they are almost all coniferous. There are many shrubs along the path, one of those shrubs was a Borth plant that was about 6 feet tall, the Borth shrub has bright yellow flowers and is somewhat similar to the Scotch Broom which was growing probably thirty feet away from the Borth. The Scotch Broom not only had the bright yellow flowers but also had these small hairy pods, that looked similar to edamame. I saw approximately 4 honeybees, which I could not narrow down to a more specific species, pollinating the Scotch Broom. The bees did have a notable red subcolor. It began to rain and I ended my walk on the Wilburton trail.

Pacific Madrone
Lady Fern
American Robin
Big Leaf Maple.

Borth

FINAL
June 1, 2012
Location: Carkeek Park

Today I took four buses to Carkeek Park. It took approximately three hours to get there, so by the time I got there it was around 1:30 PM. The temperature was about sixty degrees Fahrenheit, but there was overcast and it was quite windy. As soon as I got to the coordinate given to me for my final, I immediately noticed the call of the Northwestern Crow and the American Robin. However I could not see them. I was also able to spot a White Cabbage Butterfly, which I had recently learned about in the Butterfly class tour yesterday. At my location, the trees were mostly deciduous with the exception of the Western Red Cedar at the front of the trail. The understory was covered in Western Buttercup. I saw the fruit of a salmonberry and at first I had mistaken it for a raspberry, but on closer inspection (and a taste test) I came to the conclusion that it was the salmonberry. This was the first salmonberry plant that I had seen with and orange/red fruit; I had seen the salmonberry multiple times but mostly with golden berries. There were quite a few species, which I was able to hear but not see, for example the aforementioned Northwestern Crow and American Robin, but I could also hear crickets and the call that was similar to that of a parrot, though obviously that would be far out of range. There was one Lady Fern growing under a Licorice Fern , however it was clear that the Licorice Fern was one of the dominant species of the area as it was growing much higher than the surrounding plants, blocking sunlight. The Lady Fern, Buttercups, and a few other small plants growing near the underside of the Licorice Fern did not look particularly healthy and seemed to have fairly yellow-ish stems. Another dominant species of the area was the Bitter Cherry tree. The Bitter Cherry Tree had a brown and grey bark with horizontal creases across the bark, it also had soft oval shaped leaves that were about 5 cm long. The Salmonberry was growing underneath these trees at approximately 6 feet tall. Goose-Necked Moss was growing on one side of the bark of a particular Bitter Cherry. I was able to recognize the moss as Goose-necked by the length of the leaves and the distinguishable round curve of the leaves. On the opposite of the Bitter Cherry was some sort of a White Rot Fungus, it appeared to be some type of Fungus that I have seen before at the Urban Bay Natural Area during the Fungi tour, however, the group was unsure what type of White Rot Fungus it was even with the help of one of University of Washington’s fungi experts, still the fungi was familiar and I took a few photos for reference later. I saw another Red Cedar but again it was very measly looking, the Red Cedar trees can grow to be 60m tall while these ones were probably on 15 feet, the scale like leaves also had a white powdery mildew like fungus growing on them. I walked down to the creek on the path and noticed that the Western Buttercups were growing right a long the creek’s edges. This was not surprising as the Western Buttercups thrive in damp soil. Near the creek I had found a fallen log, that was hollow, all types of moss were growing on the outerside of the log and I wondered whether the tree was made hollow by a fungi or by an animal. Continuing down the trail, I noticed 5 Song Sparrows in a field of Blue WildRye. The Song Sparrows stayed closed to the ground, which is a behavior that I have similarly noticed at the Urban Bay Natural Area. The Blue Wildrye took up 100 square feet of a field, and the soil looked extremely damp, which was not unexpected due to the proximity to the creek. At the creek I saw 3 baby Mallards and one adult female. The female is distinguishable from the male by her dull brown plumage, compared to the bright blue/green/purple plumage of the male, a classic example of sexual dimorphism. Somehow I lost the trail and ended up in a large pasture of grass. There there was probably 30 Northwestern Crows, which flew away shortly after I entered the pasture. The pasture was north of my given coordinates. Dandelion made up a significant portion of the ground cover, and within every 5 foot radius, was at least one Dandelion plant. Later I made my way to the Carkeek Park beach, to get to the beach you must cross the railroad tracks on a bridge that is 40 feet off of the ground. From that point I was able to see that at my location most of the trees were deciduous (like I was able to note in my field journal) however to the north of me, almost all the of the trees appeared to be deciduous. I continued down to the beach where I found 9 Northwestern Crows and a washed up Graceful Rock Crab covered in barnacles. I began to walk back to the entrance of the park as it was now 3:30 and it did take three hours to get thee. As I walked back I saw an American Robin and a Northwestern Crow near a bench, when I approached the two birds, I noticed that the Crow had been pecking at a deceased Downy Woodpecker. I was able to distinguish the deceased bird as such, by the black and white spotted plumage and the clear red band down the middle of its head. Right then I saw a bird that I have never seen before, which was mostly red with a trapezoid shaped tail with a white spot in the middle, the bird moved to quickly for me to get a good picture and description of, but I later saw that bird again on the same day outside of North Seattle Community College. The bird had flown into a Big Leaf Maple Tree which was abundant near the edge of the road to the park, underneath the Big Leaf Maple were growing Licorice Fern, it seemed like under every Big Leaf Maple there was approximately four Licorice Ferns growing underneath it.

Western Red Cedar
Western Buttercup
Salmonberry
Northwestern Crow
American Robin
Lady Fern
Licorice Fern
Goose-Necked Moss
Song Sparrow
Blue Wildrye
Mallard
Dandelion
Downy Woodpecker
Graceful Rock Crab
Big Leaf Maple

Date: March 31 2012
Location: Mount Rainier, Washington State (Hugo Trail )

After Pack Forest, we went to Mount Rainier. There was a Western Hemlock growing in a decaying log. The creeks were an orangeish black and that was due to iron deposits that were inside of the water. At one of the ends of a creek there was a bright orange fungus that looked a lot like Jell-O but I was unable to identify it.

I learned that the difference between the two types of Oregon Grape is that the Mahonia aquifolium is a lot taller and grows 9-19 leaves per branch. We could not see it, but there was a berry thrush, which is a species of birds, related to the Robin. We were able to distinguish its call because it has a very monotone call that sounds like a long and loud beep from a machine. There was also a lot of Alaskan Cedar with drooping branches.

I did not take a lot of notes on this day and I think I wasn’t quite sure what I should’ve been writing about.

Species List:
Western Hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla
Oregon Grape, Mahonia aquifolium
Berry Thrush
Alaskan Cedar, Cupressus nootkatensis

Date: April 1 2012
Location: Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, Washington State

Today we went to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, which is an area that had been farmed for more than 100 years. The shape of the wildlife refuge was based on the shape of the human impact from the past. For example, they may have modified the trails and roads etc. but they only or mostly worked on what was already there. The Nisqually Wildlife Refuge was an estuary, a place where salt water met fresh water (Puget Sound & Mount Rainier) and this estuary is a critical habitat for Chinook Salmon.

It was probably around 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The red flowering current was within every 20 foot radius at the beginning of the trail (which I forgot to record the name.) At the beginning of the trail most of the trees were deciduous, like paper birch trees. Every 8 foot radius there was an Indian plum growing. At Pack Forest we also saw Indian plum but here at Nisqually there was more bloomed flowers on this plant. There was also quite a bit of salmon berry. The salmon berry was probably around 3-4 meters tall and while at Pack Forest the salmon berry plants only had one blooming flower, the ones at Nisqually had around 10-15. Two Rufous hummingbirds were also seen near the salmon berry. As we got closer to the estuary there was closer to 40-50 pink flowers on the salmon berry plant.

I saw a wide range of species of birds while I was there. There were song sparrows with tail feathers that were about 3 cm long and their body was about 5 cm long. There were rufous hummingbirds seen twice near the salmon berry plant. There was an American Robin, which wasn’t too exciting because those are seen all over Bellevue/Seattle. There was also a hawk that I saw at 11:30 am with a whitish upper breast and the mid/lower breast was brown and white spotted with long feathers on its chest and a somewhat striped tail, black beak, bright yellow eyes, and a wingspan of approximately four feet longer. This turned out to be a Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk. It puffed itss chest out a lot which I believe is a sign that it was threatened (probably because there was so many people around.) I also saw male blue herings flying close to the water of the estuary, probably about 3-4 feet above. The bird was about 3-4 feet long, probably closer to 3 and had a greyish blue back. Near the estuary, well on a rock in the middle of the estuary I saw a cormorant with a wingspan of 3 feet. It appeared to be a double crested cormorant there was two on the rock and when it flew it had a kink in its neck, and it also had an orange beak. It turns out that it was actually a pelagic cormorant because of an extremely faint white spot on it’s neck that I could not see before through the telescope since it’s head was turned the other way. Near the salmonberries not only was there hummingbirds but also sparrows with light vain trills and the sparrows were eating the gnats on the salmon berry. In that same salmonberry-infested area nears the estuary were black cap chickadees, which we could recognize by their calls and then confirm that they were black cap chickadees when we called them out using a recording of their calls on iBirds. We could see a bald eagles nest and some bald eagles through a telescope but the nest was probably 500 feet away from the trail.

There was an unidentified deciduous tree with opposite branching trees, which were between 40-50 feet tall, but I did not take enough notes on the tree to identify them later. There were also trees with a diameter of about 4-5 feet and 30 feet tall and were within every 15 foot radius. I couldn’t get close enough to them to really identify them, but still I did not take enough notes on them and as this is the beginning of the journal, today I was still not sure of exactly what I should’ve been writing down in my journal.

Species List:
Red flowering currant,
Paper birch trees,
Indian plum,
Salmonberry
Rufous hummingbird,
Song Sparrows,
American Sparrow,
Blue Hering
Pelagic Cormorant
Black cap Chickadees
Bald Eagles

Date: April 3, 2012
Location: University of Washington’s Botany Greenhouse

Today we went to the greenhouse that is on campus. It was the first time that I have ever been there. The class was split up in three stations.

Station One:

At the first station we all had to suck the pulp off this berry called the miracle berry. When we were done with the berry we were handed a lemon to suck on. The lemon tasted a lot sweeter than it usually would and almost tasted as sweet as lemonade, for me. For other people the lemon was a lot sweeter and eating the lemon tasted more like eating an orange. What the miracle berry does is it blocks the receptors in your mouth that make you taste when something is sour. You could drink a whole bottle of vinegar after eating the miracle berry and it would taste fine. But afterwards you would probably have a lot of issues because those receptors in your mouth that make you taste what is sour are actually to keep you from eating or eating too much of things that would be bad for you.
The miracle berry is interesting though because if you were diabetic you would could not add sugar to some foods and still get that sweet taste. What is even more interesting is how the plant uses chemicals to trick whatever animals will eat the berry. I am not sure why it would be important for a plant to trick whatever eats it to eat things that that animal would probably not usually eat.

At station one we also saw the hottest chili in the world that has 7% capsasin (which is what makes chilies hot). When you eat a chili the neurons in your mouth make it seem like your mouth is on fire because of the pain receptors ad the tissue damage that is happening in your mouth. There was also a type of chili that had two types of plants which were not distinguishable by their appearance and one of the plants had a really spicy chili while the other one was not spicy at all. It does cost the plant to make the capsasin, so it is possible that the capsasin is only made in some to stop fungi from growing or stop animals from eating it so that the ones that are not hot are safe.

Station Two
At the next station we saw the largest seed in the world. Well it was not the largest seed in the world but it was the seed of the plant that makes the largest seed in the world. The seed that we saw was twenty five pounds when really that plant can make a seed that is up to sixty pounds. The seed is from the Seichal Islands in the Indian oceans and the plant made a sort of vase/dish shape, probably for collecting water. The seed does not float and when it falls from the tree it lands right next to the tree it fell from. The smallest seed in the world would be easy to transport and disperse but it would not be able to carry many nutrients within the seed. Obviously this large seed is not easily transported and even though it falls right under it’s mother tree, because it is carrying so many necessary nutrients it can start growth right away.

The next plant we saw was from southern Mexico to Columbia and it is called the manstera deliciousa and is a skotropic tree. This tree grows toward darkness when it first starts growing and then as it matures it starts fighting for the sunlight. In the older trees there are many holes in the leaves that look somewhat like a caterpillar had been eating at them. I think those leaves are there so that sunlight goes through them and the newer trees which are growing towards the darkness stay away from those older trees and don’t grow too close to them because otherwise soon they will be competing for the sunlight. This plant produces a sweet pineapple like fruit that is very delicious (manstera deliciousa)

The next pant we saw was the dischidia which js from south east asia. This plant has hollow leaves which creates a CO2 chamber and is also a habitat for ants. When herbivores come to feed on the plant the ants come out and bite/sting them because they are trying to protect their domatia and their queen. The roots inside of the pods from the plant slurp up all of the nutrients that the ants leave behind so this is an example of how the plant works with the ants and the plant provides a habitat for the ants and the ants return the favor by leaving nutrients for the plant.
Another plant that we saw was called the eychornia, which have beautiful flowers and is from Brazil and because of its flowers it was introduced to Asia, Europe, and Africa. In Europe, Asia, and Africa this was an invasive weed like species because those continents did not have the Brazilian herbivores, which ate those plants. If you look at the leaves of the plant you will notice how they are very sail-like which is good for germination. The leaves catch the wind very easily and so it is easy for them to glide across the water. They have a root system, which sucks nutrients out of water, so this plant works well as part of a sewage system. We saw other aquatic plants too like the water lily nymphea with a detergent-like slippery inside to kill flies, but if the fly survives the nectar covers the flies. It was interesting to see the relationship of plants with other species and what they do to trick predators.

Station Three:
At the last station we first went to see the welwitchia which is from the Nambian desert in Southern Africa. The Nambian desert receives only 25 ml of rain every year. The welwitchia lant has reflective leaves so that the sun does not make the plant too hot so that it does not dry up. There was another plant called the gymneous plant and the one at UW was the size of one that is around 2000 years old. This one at the UW Greenhouse was watered regularly to see how fast it would grow and because it was given so much water and nutrients that it wouldn’t have gotten in the Nambian desert it grow much faster. This is a sign that it would rather live in this kind of climate than in the Nambian desert, which is probably true for a lot of plants. We also saw the carnivorous plants at this station and a few were cut open so we could see how they have decomposed some of the flies that they have tricked inside.

The main point of this trip was to see how plants can mask themselves and trick other plants which was something that was really interesting and something that I have not thought about often.

Species List:
Miracle Fruit, Synsepalum dulcificum
manstera delicious
dischidia
eychornia
welwitchia
Venus Fly Trap, Dionaea muscipula

Date: April 10, 2012
Location : Hitchcock Building on UW Seattle Campus Seattle, Washington State

Today we went to the Hitchcock Building on the UW Seattle Campus and examined plant specimens. We were there for a very short time, maybe around 20 minutes so there was not a lot of time to go in depth with many types of species... With the time given I was only able to take a few notes on one plant the Geranium Robertanum. I saw 7 specimens of this plant.

11 August 2002 North Cascades National Park Washington USA Skagit County
The leaves were split in three parts throughout the whole specimens and the flowers were pink with a deep brown stem.

7 June 1960 Multhoman County, Portland Oregon
The flowers of this Geranium Robertanum were deep pink, the stem was much yellower than that of the last sample and the leaves were very yellow but I think that may be due to the age of the specimen.

16 July 1999 British Columbia, Vancouver Island
The flowers of this Geranium Robertanum were dark pink/purple and the leaves were thicker and more abundant while the other plants the leaves were much more scarce.

14 August 1999 Pierce County
The flowers of this Geranium Robertanum were light pink and had thinner yellow leaves

28 April 2004 Whatcom County
This Geranium Robertanum was very bushy and the flowers were purpl and the stem was much thicker

7 August 2009 Skagit County
This Geranium Robertanum had leaves that were much more sparce and the leaves had deep red edges and even the leaf itself was a lot redder and was sort of a mix of a dark green and a dark red, there were no flowers on this plant though.

18 June 1962 Klickitat County
This Geranium Robertanum had orange and red leaves and the stem was red too. I could not tell if the plant itself was thick and had a lot of leaves or if I thought that because there was multiple Geranium Robertanums piled up ontop of the paper that they were pressed on. However, no flowers were visible.

26 May 2001 King County
This one was only green (an olive-ish green) and the leaves were dark green and the stem was thin and dark brown with a thin green line down the middle. The flowers (there were three of them) were deep purple with yellow towards the center.

Since we were there for such a short time I felt as though I didn’t have a lot of time to really take note on each of the specimens but what I did find interesting was that we had specimens of this plant from so long ago. And maybe 50 years ago, it would seem like this plant was not of extreme importance. But the information can be extremely useful in the future and so I was curious that people took so many detailed notes and carefully selected specimens knowing that this information would be useful in the future.

April 16 2012
Location: SE 23rd ST Bellevue Washington State 98004

There is a tree that is about forty-five feet tall and at first I thought that it was a Western White Pine but the cones are too round and the cone pollen is very short. The 4 inch needles spike out in groups of five. I have recorded the exact location of this tree in my field notebook and I will go back to it at a later date to identify it. About 100 feet South of the aforementioned tree there is a large madrone tree that is at least 30 feet tall and was easily recognizable by its waxy bark. After walking south of SE 23rd ST you will past 104th ST continue on SE 23rd ST and there will be a long row of tall Oregon Grape. The Oregon Grape is about 7 feet tall and has 9 leaves per branch. There was 105 feet Oregon Grape on this street. There was a lot of Oregon Grape and everywhere I go now I see Oregon Grape. There were a lot of plants that I saw that I wasn’t able to identify but the main point of this journal entry was that today I tried to go out and become familiar with the different species in my suburban neighborhood.

Species List:
Oregon Grape
Madrone

April 24, 2012
Location: Burke Museum, Seattle, Washington State

The best analogy for a natural history museum is a library archive with specimens of birds (but not only birds). The goal of the library is to create a two dimensional picture (the two dimensions being time and space) of pictures of birds (but not only birds). There are 2000-4000 specimens of birds per year added to the Burke Museum. The plumage pattern of the birds is observed in a way that they store them which is in a way that the backs are flat so it doesn’t get messed up when they are moving them. When they get a bird specimen which sometimes they go out and shoot and sometimes they pick them up off of the road, they remove all the guts and rotting parts and then stuff them with a stick and cotton. Volunteers do all the stuffing.

The way that they are stuffed makes the birds very flat, which is good for storage. But that is not a good way to see their skeletal structure. So they also have the skeletons of the bird so that you can see how they would actually look in real life. And just in case you will need tissue specimen from them a vial is stored for each species at -80 degrees Fahrenheit! So basically, they have everything that you might need per species but not together.

Date: 31 March 2012
Location: Pack Forest, WA

Today our Natural History class went to Pack Forest, Washington. It was about forty degrees Fahrenheit and about an hour before our arrival it had stopped raining. Before reaching the trailhead, the ground was covered with dandelion and hairy catsear, which look fairly similar. Both are invasive species and either a dandelion or a hairy castsear was growing within every radius of one and a half feet. One can classify the two plants by the texture of the leaves. Dandelions’ leaves are very smooth, while the catsear’s leaves are rough and furry.

The big leaf maples were covered in forking bone and Dolichousnea longisissimalichen. The Dolichousnea longisissima lichen was soft and hairy (and long) and the forking bone was sort of crispy and a pale-ish blue/green/gray. One of the big leaf maples had all of these holes in it that were somewhat in a straight horizontal line but the holes had different vertical lengths. This appeared to be the work of a sapsucker woodpecker. The big leaf maple is an opposite branching tree as opposed to an alternate branching tree. At tims though it could e difficult to tell what is opposite branching and what is alternate branching, if the branches of an opposite branching tree breaks off and it is therefore not symmetrical and appears to be alternate branching, so it is important to take note on that. The big leaf maple also has green wind-pollinating flowers. The big leaf maple is also sometimes called the “paddle tree” because the wood of the tree was used to make paddles.

The trail that we were on (which I forgot to take note on) followed a creek. The water was incredibly warm, and appeared to be 5-8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the air. About a foot to two feet away from the edge of the creek we saw yarrow on ground achilea. There was also a lime green frog in the creek. I think that it was possibly a Pacific Chorus Frog, but really it moved way too quickly for me to get a good look at it. It appeared to be at least 3 inches long but it is possible that that is an incorrect estimate since I saw it passing in the corner of my eye.

I also saw two trilliums, which deer eat, The trilliums had three petals on their white flowers and had three leaves. The petals turn in sort of like a dish.

Species List:
Dandelion, Taraxacum
Catsear, Hypochaeris radicata
Big Leaf Maple, Acer macrophyllum
Yellow-Bellied Sap Sucker, Sphyrapicus varius
Dolichousnea longisissima
Forking Bone Lichen
Yarrow, Achillea millefolium
Pacific Chorus Frog, Pseudacris regilla
White trillium, Trillium Grandifllorum