lisad22's Journal

Lat: 47.651908772042475, Lon:-122.31143038717448
Day, 2012
4/10/12
1:30-2:30

Today we started class at the Hitchcock Hall building where Susan set up a whole bunch of cards with old plants glued to them. We looked at three cards from two different species. I observed Geranium robertianum L. and Polystichum munitum.

Geranium robertianum, also known as “Stinky Bob,” is a very leafy plant with a few pink/purple flowers scattered around and is found in deciduous forests. The three I chose to observe were from British Columbia in July 1999, the Cedar River Watershed in May 2001, and Skagit County in August 2009. One difference I noticed was that in 1999, this particular plant had many flowers whereas from 2001 to 2009 this number decreased. Another difference was that the sample from Skagit County had the same leaf structure as the other two but the leaves were much smaller and had a reddish-yellow tint rather than the green observed on the other two. However, it is hard to know for sure if these differences were actually caused by differences in time and location or whether it was just because the plants were very old and discolored.

I looked it up but couldn't find any information on whether Geranium robertianum has seen a decline in flowers over the years. Based on that, I'm guessing the difference in number of flowers was probably just a result of these plants being glued to cards and age. However, as for the difference in color of the leaves, I found that in more shady areas the leaves will be green until Autumn and will appear reddish when grown in dry sunny areas. That makes sense because the samples with green leaves were collected in July (British Columbia), and May (Cedar River Watershed). Also, the more reddish sample was collected in August (Skagit County), the beginning of Autumn which explains why there was only some red/yellow on the leaves. Perhaps the sample from Skagit County was also collected somewhere dry and sunny, which would also account for the redness.

Geranium robertianum
Polystichum munitum

Lat: 47.665323774091355, Lon:-122.39998334246673
Day, 2012
4/2/12

Today around 6:00pm I walked through the Hiram M. Chittenden locks. The sun was setting but it was still relatively light out and maybe about 50-55 degrees F. There were a few cumulus clouds and some overcast as well.

At the south side of the Locks there is a huge red alder tree about 30 feet tall that is home to about 20-30 cormorants. I could easily see about 20 nests and far more cormorants just sitting in the tree or flying above the nearby water. They were black with long orange beaks and lighter/greyish chests. In some of the pictures I took, they actually resembled Great Blue Herons that are known for being present at the locks so I was a bit unsure at first, but now I'm positive that I saw cormorants. On my post, these cormorants were identified even further to Double-crested cormorants.

I've also seen these birds swimming in the Shilshole Bay (saltwater) side of the locks. They dive down into the water and then pop up close to where the six gates release water from the Salmon Bay (freshwater) side. When they pop up, they are guided backwards by the water gates. They then dive back down and do it all over again. It kind of reminded me of the wave pool at Wild Waves when I saw this.

I've also observed them flying around the Shilshole Bay side of the locks. Once I saw this pair of cormorants fly the exact same path but in opposite directions. They both did a sort of figure 8 above the water while changing their fling heights and then returning back to the red alder one after the other.

Interestingly, I visited the same area about a month later (in May) and found hardly any cormorants in that red alder. Maybe the migrated or maybe they were only staying in that area to breed or just pass by.

Species List:
Double-crested Cormorant

Lat:47.6520948, Lon:-122.4013448
1:00-2:30
Day, 2012
4/22/12

Today was relatively sunny. There were a few clouds in the sky that covered up the sun at times, but overall the day was pretty nice. The temperature may've been around 60 degrees F. It was dry and comfortable.

I saw many plant species during this expedition and only a few animals. Of the plants, my favorite were a willow tree, a red alder, and a fucus. The willow tree was about 20-30 feet tall and probably about 15-20 feet wide. Its thin branches swooped downward, some just barely touching the ground. These branches had many notches on them and some even resembled bamboo shoots because of their smooth and shiny appearance. The leaves were very short and curved in all directions. Some had these almost lichen-looking type things growing out of them.

The red alder was especially interesting because it seemed to be growing out of the side of some land. This land was on the coast just infront of the beach. Red alders are one of my favorite trees because of their tiny cones. I don't know why but I am pretty fascinated by these cones. I wonder if, when the tide comes in, if the water carries these cones to different locations and whether its even possible for them to survive the trip.

The rockweed was also pretty interesting. I've seen this plant a lot along the beach both in the water (alive?) and dried up on the beach but never knew what it was called. Upon looking it up, I found that this species grows more abundantly on sloped rocks; and its presence increases species richness as it can "provide protection, shelter and food for a variety of small invertebrates."

Species List:
Tea camellia
California bumble bee
Roses
Grape hyacinth
Cherry laurel
Hybrid bluebell
Common goldeneye
Yellow shore crab
Himalayan blackberry
Pill bug
American crow
Cabbage white
Rose campion
Poison hemlock
Canada goose
Red alder
Rockweed
Common lilac
Malus
Willow

Lat:47.66063861939029, Lon:-122.31028240171611
Day, 2012
4/23/12
1:30-3:30

Today we visited the Burke Museum and looked at the tons of birds they have in collections there. At the Burke, we were led by the museum's ornithology collection manager Rob Faucett on a tour of some of the birds in their collections. Rob taught us a few of the ways they use these collections to study birds. They use plumage patterns to study skin, skeletal specimens to study the size and shape, they spread the wings to study feather pattern and size, and they can also use tissue samples for DNA and other scientific studies. Rob also said that they stuff the birds a certain way so that they lay flat on their backs. Apparently they used to be stuffed so they resembled what they actually looked like living. However, this resulted in a lot of damage when in collections and also decomposition so, even though this newer way doesn't allow you to see the birds' actual shape or wingspan etc., it is still a better method of collecting and storing.

One of the things I thought was really amazing was the molting of different birds' feathers. We looked at two different species: the Black-footed Albatros, and the Canada Goose. With the black-footed albatros, it has evolved to molt its feathers in sections. You can tell by looking at its wings that if 3 feathers are ruff they are older, and if 3 are flat they are newer. They will have three 2 year old feather, three 1 year old feathers, three brand new feather, and then it starts over with three 2 year feathers etc. The albatros has evolved to molt its feathers this way without losing its ability to fly. Rob told us that scientists have experimented or made calculations and apparently, this is the absolute best way possible to molt feathers. To me, that is so amazing.

With the Canada Goose, they fly to near shore islands and molt all their feathers. They've evolved to do this at near shore islands because they can easily feed on the grass and also not have to worry about predators. Seeing as they molt all their feathers, they wouldn't be able to fly away from predators, so molting on an island is the best place for them.

Species List:
Black-footed albatross
Rail
Canada goose
Marbled murrelet
Hermit warbler
Townsend warbler

Lat:47.66063861939029, Lon:-122.31028240171611
Day, 2012
4/23/12
1:30-3:30

Also at the Burke Museum, we learned about Hermit and Townsend warblers. We saw probably about 50 of these small black and yellow birds in the Burke collection. In comparison, Townsend warblers have more yellow on their bodies and look more striped with black, white, and yellow; whereas Hermit warblers have mainly yellow heads with black bodies and white/grey chests. However, as we saw in the collections, there are many hybrid variations of each of these warblers. We looked at many boxes of warblers with Townsends at one end, a whole bunch of hybrids in the middle, and a Hermit at the other end. The hybrids of these birds were very interesting but apparently they aren't seen in field guides so that might get a little confusing.

Interestingly, Townsend warblers are very aggressive towards the Hermit warblers. This forces the Hermit warblers to move southward, away from the Townsends. However, the Townsends eventually catch up and force the Hermits even further south. Subsequently, this also moves the "hybrid zone" in between them south as well. From what Josh explained, this zone moves about 1km south every year. While this "competitive exclusion" is moving the whole warbler system south, climate change is moving it north. Therefore, the whole question with these warblers is what's going to happen when these two forces decrease the size of the hybrid zone or wipe it out all together. I wonder if the Townsend warblers' aggression will reduce the Hermit warbler population or if these Hermit warblers will become extinct as a consequence.

Another very interesting thing about these warblers has to do with their DNA composition. While the DNA between Hermit warblers and Townsend warblers is different, each bird (Townsend or Hermit) can have the DNA of the other. We looked at a map and there were zones with orange and blue dots of varying sizes. The size of the orange dots represented the percentage of Townsend warbler individuals with Townsends DNA; and the size of the blue dots represented the percentage of Hermit warbler individuals with Hermit DNA. This is intriguing because I had never heard of an individual species that can essentially still be that individual while having some of the DNA of another individual.

Species List:
Hermit warbler
Townsend warbler

Lat:47.66063861939029, Lon:-122.31028240171611
Day, 2012
4/26/12
1:30-3:30

Today we visited the Burke Museum for the second time. We looked at three zones: treachery, death, and sex. In the treachery section we looked at Weaver eggs. Some of the eggs were blue, red-spotted, white, etc. There was so much variation because it is easy to put your eggs into another nest in order for them to be raised by other parents (parasitizing that nest).

An interesting side note is that the females lay the same color egg regardless of the male. This makes it easy for her to keep track of which eggs are actually hers.

One species that does this a lot is the brown cowbird. They lay about one egg per day but don't make nests. They are the only North American bird that doesn't raise their own young. Once the eggs are laid, they are all put into other nests (for example a warbler' nest). The eggs of brown cowbirds are about 30% harder than most other eggs which makes it risky for the parasitized nest birds to pierce (because they risk bouncing off the hard cowbird eggs and ricocheting onto one of their own). Another reason why parasitizing works for these birds is known as the "Mafia hypothesis." The Mafia hypothesis states that cowbirds kill the warbler babies if the warbler parents try to get rid of the cowbird babies or make new nests on top of parasitized nests. Once the cowbird babies have matured, the parents can actually call them back.

This whole phenomenon was really interesting to me. I had never heard of a bird that just drops their young off onto someone else. It seems like a whole lot of work though. If you think about all the eggs they lay and all the nests they drop their eggs in, keeping up with all of that must be really difficult. Also, the time these cowbirds put into making sure the nests they parasitized are still housing their young must be pretty substantial. This makes me wonder why they don’t just make a huge nest of a whole bunch and raise their young on their own. If they are the only species in North America that does this, it seems to me that this is definitely not the best way all other North American birds have come up with.

Species List:
Weavers
Brown cowbird
Warblers

Lat:47.66063861939029, Lon:-122.31028240171611
Day, 2012
4/26/12
1:30-3:30

In the death section, we looked at a lot of graphs with Susan and interpreted them. We also looked at marbled murrelet and warblers.

Marbled murrelets are small diving birds. They are brown on the top and white on the bottom. These are traits necessary for survival. Murrelets are brown on top because when a predator looks down, the murrelets will blend in with the water; they are white on bottom because if a predator is looking up from underwater, the murrelets will blend in with the sky. This was an interesting thing to think about because now when I look at birds and ducks I notice that a lot of them are lighter on bottom and darker on top.

On the subject of warblers, we learned about the differences in survival and location of the adult and juvenile birds. A way to tell the difference is that the adult warblers’ third tail feather is mostly white, while the juveniles’ is mostly brown. Because the juvenile warblers are less developed, they are slower during migration. Consequently, they get stuck with the worse territories after the adults migrate to the best ones. However, the following year, some of the adult warblers will die and be replaced by juveniles that have become adults. Therefore, the grown juveniles will get the better territories. This is a simple concept but I had never really thought about it before. It makes sense though those adults in a species are more mature and knowledgeable than juveniles and would of course know of and get the best territories. But it is also interesting to think of how that knowledge gets passed down from adults to juveniles who will eventually pass it along to younger juveniles when they get older. I guess there’s no way to know for sure (maybe the young just observe the old and there’s no communication or passage of knowledge at all) but it would be interesting to know if there even is communication and to study it among these birds.

Species List:
Marbled murrelet
Warblers