May 29, 2012

Location: Union Bay Natural Area

Coordinates: 47.6556923, -122.2931387

Habitat/Vegetation: 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.

General Comments: The pond slider was my favorite find from this day. It was sitting still in the middle of one of the ponds just off the path closest to the parking lot. I thought it was a rock at first, but we used binoculars and saw that it was indeed a large turtle. It had a large, smooth shell and a striped, dark body. The turtle didn't move at all in the entire time we were at the UBNA, which was interesting. I wish I could have waded out to it somehow. I really wanted to get closer and see what it would do. I had never seen a turtle in the wild before, so this is by far one of the coolest things I have ever seen this quarter. The cedar waxwing was sitting in a tree on the opposite side of the UBNA just off the path. We saw it as part of the birds group tour for class and I wanted to make note of it since I had never seen one before. It had a brown body with gray wings and black on its face and tail. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but my camera wasn't good enough.

Species List:
Pond Slider (Trachemys scripta)
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

Posted on June 2, 2012 08:23 AM by tessaf