tessaf's Journal

Location: Pack Forest, Mt. Rainier National Park, and Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.

For more details on route, habitat, vegetation, and general commentary, see the written field journal entries for March 31, 2012 at Pack Forest and Mt. Rainer respectively and the journal for April 1, 2012 at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.

Species List: See journals for March 31, 2012 and April 1, 2012 or see the observations associated with this journal on iNaturalist.

Location: A vast area on the UW Seattle campus ranging from the Music Building in the Quad to the main entrance of Hansee Residence Hall, to a small patch of garden on the University Way (the Ave.) outside the University Teriyaki restaurant, and finally to the medium sized bush next to the bus stop outside of Lander Residence Hall on Northeast Campus Parkway.

Route: The coordinates for the Sambucus racemosa, which was found outside of Hansee Residence Hall in a small garden area to the right of the main entrance, are 47.6607..., -122.30. In order to reach the Music Building where I found the Magnolia tree, one need only to go up the path from Red Square leading past Kane Hall until one reaches the large building on the right hand side of the Quad near the stairs at the very end of the area. The tree is growing in a small patch of garden on the building's right side facing the rest of the Quad. To reach the Rosemary, head for University Way and, at the end of the street closest to Red Square, look for the University Teriyaki restaurant. The Rosemary is growing in a small patch of garden right outside. Finally, from the spot with the Rosemary, head down the hill past Poplar Hall and cross the street. At the construction (or at Alder Hall depending on when these directions are used), turn right and head down the street and over the crosswalk towards the bus stop. The shrub that is the Cherry Laurel will be right past the bus stop and this is also likely where the Kidney Spot Ladybird fell onto my shirt from.

Weather: The sky was about 20% cloudy and it was a much warmer day than it had been for my previous forays. It was about 59 - 60 degrees Fahrenheit and there was very little wind. It was most definitely not raining for once.

Habitat: The area around the Genus Magnolia in the Quad is little more than a place for the Cherry trees that bloom in the Spring. Besides those trees, the area is grassy with only a few small patches of garden for the rest of the foliage to grow. The Magnolia grows in one such patch of garden surrounded by small flowers and another tree similar to it. The ground around the Magnolia is covered in bark and there is little evidence of animals other than squirrels, crows, and small birds. The Sambucus racemosa was also located in a garden plot, though this one was considerable more wild than the garden plots in the Quad. The Sambucus racemosa was surrounded by large shrubs about 4-6 feet high, another Magnolia tree with white flowers, and various unidentifiable plants that grow anywhere from on the ground to 4 feet tall. Most of these unidentifiable plants had flowers or were about to have their flowers bloom. The Rosemary was located in another small plot of garden surrounded by concrete and asphalt. It was in a big clump of its own kind with a small spider on its web clinging to part of it. It was located next to some small, potted flowers and a small tree with some little shrubs surrounding it. This area was obviously man-made and it was likely not filled with native species. Finally, the cherry laurel was located in another planted area behind the aforementioned bus stop. It was surrounded by small shrubs and flowering plants. The Kidney-spot ladybird was found clinging to my shirt when I stepped inside Terry (a building right next to the cherry laurel) to go to my dorm room. It is likely that it either found its way there when I was digging around in the rosemary trying to get a good picture of that and of the spider or it might have fell onto me when I was observing the cherry laurel.

Vegetation: The Magnolia, to begin with, was a small tree about 10 feet tall with skinny branches and rough bark. The flowers had only just bloomed, as they had been closed on other visits to that spot, and bees were busily attempting to get at them. The vegetation around it was much smaller and was mostly there for ground cover, it appeared. The flowers had soft, pink petals and had a slight fragrance. The Sambucus racemosa had small, red berries in large clumps. This was one indicator for me that the plant was not red huckleberry, as red huckleberries grow individually. The leaves were small to medium sized and where tapered at the end. They were light green to green-yellow in color. The bush itself was about 5 feet tall and the branches were very thin and brown. The bush had a large circumference and took up most of the space in the small garden plot. It was surrounded by shrubs and other smaller plants that I was unable to identify. The Rosemary had a small garden spider on its web attached to it in the center of the plant. I wanted a picture of the spider originally, but sitting in the plant attempting to get a good picture left a strong herb scent on my body, which led me to identifying it as rosemary. It was clearly planted in that spot along with the flowers, bushes, and tree in the same garden plot. The rosemary particularly caught my interest because I have never seen it growing anywhere before and I am used to seeing it only in the grocery store, so it was a new find for me. The cherry laurel was also a small tree about 7 feet high (not counting the fact that its height was boosted by the raised area it was planted in, making it tower about 10 feet over my head). It had medium sized, dark green leaves and small, delicate, white flowers. The tree was also clearly planted there and it was surrounded by other unidentifiable plant life including shrubs. Finally, the Kidney-spot ladybird was found on my shirt after I concluded looking for species around the UW Seattle campus. I was unable to tell if it was alive or dead and I am not sure how it got on me. It looked like a lady bug, except it had a black shell with two red spots on either side of its body.

General Comments: The UW Seattle campus is providing me with plenty of interesting finds! I seem to never run out of species to identify and add to iNaturalist. I plan to spend much more time in the coming weeks looking around the entire campus and searching for new things to add. I also need to make myself go off campus to search, however. As evidenced by the next journal I will write, I am going to go looking near Magnuson Park at Sand Point to the east of the UW Seattle campus on the edge of Lake Washington. I want to know what sorts of different things can be found outside the UW Seattle campus or if there are more similar kinds of things out in the surrounding areas. I hope to find more animals in the next few weeks and take my focus away from plants, as I already have so many. My goal is to try to capture some pictures of the honey bees I see flying around now that it is becoming warmer.

Species List:
Genus Magnolia
Sambucus racemosa
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus)
Kidney-spot Ladybird (Chilocorus renipustulatus)

Location: I traveled to the east of the UW Seattle campus later on April 2, 2012 and documented two more species. The Mallard ducks were found wandering in the Radford Court apartment area and the daisies were found on the grass at Magnuson Park close to the bus stop.

Route: From the bus stop outside Lander Residence Hall, get on either the 75 or 30 bus and take it until the Magnuson Park bus stop past Seattle Children's Hospital and next to the Radford Court apartment complex. The daisies are on the grass all over the area near this bus stop and the ducks can be found wandering around the Radford Court apartments.

Weather: The sky had only about 20% cloud cover and it was the warmest day it has been since I started observing species. The temperature was about 60 degrees Fahrenheit and there was very little wind blowing.

Habitat: The Radford Court area is a series of apartments intermingled with grassy areas and small gardens. The ducks were found on one of these small grassy areas that was particularly muddy in a "street" between some of the apartment buildings. There was nothing other than grass in the small area where the ducks were spending their time that day, but the rest of the garden areas in Radford Court have small wildflowers, bushes, and even smaller trees. These ducks were clearly looking for handouts from some of the tenants as they were willing to let me come very close to them without any fear. They probably make their home in Magnuson Park across the street and come looking for generous humans. The daisies were found directly in Magnuson Park on its edge closest to the main street where the bus stops. There were, however, daisies all over the grass in the large area of Magnuson Park next to the Radford Court apartments. This area had larger deciduous trees and even some conifers. There were no other wildflowers besides the daisies and there was plenty of neat grass and patches of bark for small shrubs. There were other little birds chirping in the trees that I did not get a glimpse of and squirrels running around the area.

Vegetation: As I mentioned before, Radford Court has little in the way of true vegetation. It is mostly neatly cut grass and small flowers or shrubs. This is truly an area groomed to suit human needs. The ducks were only there because they wanted a handout, which shows how humanity influences their species, and their true habitat is likely down by Lake Washington in Magnuson Park. The part of Magnuson Park that I looked at that day was also very neat and showed clear signs of being tailed to suit humans. The daisies were, however, growing perfectly fine in the area and seemed to have taken over the grass in the new Spring. Bees were buzzing around a few of the daisies and more will likely come as the season progresses.

General Comments: I don't really like looking for species in areas like Radford Court. I was, however, there on other business and decided to take the opportunity to get a good picture of the ducks since the ones at home and on the UW Seattle campus are more skittish than the ones I found at the apartments. I definitely want to check out Magnuson Park some more. My short exploration of a small area of the park piqued my interest and I want to see if the rest of the park, especially the areas close to the lake, are more wild. It is, however, interesting to see the evidence of human habitation and how it impacts the growth of plants and animals. Radford Court is a great example of this. No plant species but what was put there by humans remains and the ducks are so used to human scraps that they will let one touch them. I would look at more areas like Radford Court just to see this sort of interaction between humanity and nature and how these environments differ from the more wild ones like at Magnuson Park.

Species List:
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Daisy (Bellis perennis)

Location: The area near Hansee, McCarty, and McMahon residence halls extending to the UW Power Plant area. The hummingbird was found right near Hansee and the other three were found next to the Power Plant building in small garden patches.

Route: From Hansee Hall's main entrance, head left down the path and down the stairs leading to the area outside McCarty. Continue down the street past McMahon and loop around towards Hall Health and Loew. The unidentifiable plant plants, the Himalayan Blackberry, and the Spear Mint were all located behind Loew and behind the Power Plant.

Weather: It was a gorgeous day with about 10-20% cloud cover and temperatures at about 64 degrees. There was a light wind blowing all day.

For information on the habitat and vegetation of this area, please see the journal entries for March 27 and March 30, 2012 from here on iNaturalist or in the written field journal since I have explored this area many times in my last few forays for species and have documented the various aspects of it twice before.

General Comments: Because today was so nice, there were plenty of bees around looking for flowers. I want to document bees in the future if I can, though I tried today and had a lot of difficulty since they don't stay still for very long. I hope to have better luck in the future. I also want to try to get out of this small area I've been finding so many species in for the past two weeks. I hope to go looking in Magnuson Park in the future.

Species List:
Himalayan Blackberry (Rubus armeniacus)
Spear Mint (Mentha spicata spicata)
Common vetch (Vicia sativa)
Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum)
Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)

Location: Union Bay Natural Area

Coordinates: 47.6564218, -122.2927934

Weather: The day started out with only about 30% cloud cover with a light wind at about 60 degrees Fahrenheit, but large, dark storm clouds gradually covered the sky as the day went on and the sky became completely overcast. The wind picked up around 15:00 and it began to rain lightly as we left the Union Bay Natural Area. During our time exploring, it was about 59 degrees Fahrenheit with small patches of blue sky showing through the otherwise dull gray cloud cover. There were more large, dark gray clouds in the sky at this time as well, but the wind was still mild.

For more information on habitat and vegetation of the area, please see the written journal entry for April 12, 2012.

General Comments: Since I was focusing on my drawings, the only creature I was able to get a clear picture of was the Red-winged Blackbird. The males were hopping around the reeds near one of the large ponds and the females were darting around with them. The males were the only ones with the black coloring and red and yellow spot on their wings. The females were brown with white speckles and were smaller. The males' calls consisted of a few sharp chirps and a long, raucous series of titters and louder chirps. There were at least five males around the pond and two females and the males kept calling back and forth to each other as they flew from among the reeds to the trees and back again. They seemed to prefer the area near the water as I did not see any of these birds anywhere else in the other areas of the park we visited.
I wish I had known about the Union Bay Natural Area before! I definitely plan to go back there in the future to find new things to document. I took a picture of a strange bird clinging to a dead tree that I thought was a woodpecker, but since the picture isn't very clear I can't post it on iNaturalist and I won't be able to identify the bird. I hope that, if I go back, I'll see more like it and I'll be able to get a better idea of what I saw. I want to know how many different species of bird I can spot in the Union Bay Natural Area before the quarter is over. I hope to at least see more than one or two of the 200 different species that live in the area like it did when we visited on Thursday.

Species List:
Red-winged Blackbird (male and female)
Great Blue Heron
Mallards
Cat-tails
Himalayan Blackberry
Unknown brown bird perching on a dead tree (originally thought to be woodpecker)

Location: The crow and squirrel were found in the area along King Lane, the squirrel was found on the left side of the road closest to Savery and the crow was found in one of the grassy areas closer to Denny. The Prunus x yedoensis was found along Clallam Lane, which is near the law school building (William H. Gates Hall), in the grassy area next to the path. The bumble bee was found on the ground outside Lander Hall next to the bus stop there and was moved by me into the same garden area as the cherry laurel from a previous entry.

Route: King Lane can be reached by going up the path through the middle of the Quad at the UW Seattle campus that runs between Savery and Raitt halls. Clallam Lane can be reached by going across the main street near Denny Hall. Clallam Lane is the right path on this side of the street rather than the left path. The coordinates of the tree specifically are 47.6545295715332, -122.31402587890625.

Weather: The weather that day was extremely sunny with only a couple wispy clouds in the sky. Cloud cover was at maybe 10% or less throughout the day. There was very little wind and the temperature was about 64 degrees Fahrenheit. The lighting was excellent as the sun was shining brightly all day.

Habitat: The area the squirrel, crow, and Prunus x yedoensis were found was rather barren of plants. What was there had been planted by the UW. There were quite a few tall trees in the area where the squirrel was found, and the squirrels seemed quite fond of them as there were about 5 or 6 running around in that one area alone. The crow didn't seemed to mind the lack of large plants, as it was content to land on the buildings and look for food in the grass. The Prunus x yedoensis was also planted and there were no other trees immediately surrounding it, only a few large conifers here and there and some other small planted trees. The area I placed the bumble bee in was little more than a garden with large flower bushes and a huge cherry laurel.

Vegetation: The trees were predominantly conifers, though a few deciduous trees were present as well. The plants low to the ground were all planted and were all flowering bushes of various types that were all likely not native. The only real plant growing in all of these areas and completely covering them was grass.

General Comments: These eastern gray squirrels are all over the UW Seattle campus. They're almost always out on sunny days looking for food, and the one in particular I observed was a crazy little thing that would get close to my legs and dart away again a second later. It clearly wanted food from me and gave up when it was obvious I didn't have any for it. The crow was a female that was hopping around a grassy area looking for worms, other insects, and human scraps. It was accompanied by a larger male. These birds are also incredibly common all over campus. These two species are clear examples of how humans affect animal species. They have completely adapted to living with humans and neither were afraid of my approach. If I had had food, I could have probably gotten close enough to touch them. These animals are taking advantage of what we humans drop and of the fact that we think watching them eat the food we offer them is "cute". The Prunus x yedoensis was obviously planted there for its beautiful white flowers. It is definitely not native to the area. Finally, the bumble bee I found was on the verge of dying. I removed it from the ground it was lying on and put it in the garden area behind the bus stop because I was afraid it would get stepped on. These bumble bees are another common sight on campus, but this is the first one I have seen in such a weak state. I am almost certain it died at some point after I rescued it simply because it was in such bad shape when I saw it last. Certain parts of the UW Seattle campus are great examples of how humanity takes over an area and how an area and the species in it can change with human influence. The crow, bumble bee, and squirrel just happened to be in rather barren areas, so that is not such a problem, but the tree is an example of how plant species that don't belong in an area will be added by humans to enhance the landscape. While these areas are interesting to examine, I know I need to turn my focus to native species in the future.

Species List:
Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Prunus x yedoensis
Yellow-faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenkii)

Location: Union Bay Natural Area

Coordinates: 47.6564218, -122.2927934

Weather: The weather that day was very sunny and bright. The cloud cover was wispy and never more than 10%. The temperature was about 64 degrees Fahrenheit all day. The lighting was good and it made it easier to get pictures of certain things, especially the giant crane fly.

Habitat/Vegetation: For more information on the habitat and vegetation of this area, please see the journal entry for April 12, 2012 in my written journal.

General Comments: This wasn't a very productive day for pictures for me because I realized my desperate need for an actual camera rather than just my iPhone camera. I missed out on plenty of interesting birds because my small camera couldn't do them justice. The killdeer was the only bird I managed to get, though I'm happy it worked out because I never saw a bird like it again in all my other trips to the UBNA. The killdeer was standing near the edge of one of the lakes and it caught my eye because of its long legs and black and white stripes. I learned that day that these birds pretend to have a hurt wing to lead predators away from their nests, something that was new for me. The giant crane fly appeared out of pure luck. It flew onto a strand of prairie grass as I turned away from the killdeer and I was able to capture it before it flew away. I was excited to be able to get more insects, which had been one of my goals from the starts since I like them so much. The common cattails are all over the UBNA and I learned that day that these are simply last years stalks that will be replaced by the new, green growth later in the season, which is yet another thing I did not know until I bothered observe the species. The wood sorrel was pointed out to me by a friend accompanying me and I was surprised to find out that that was what it was. I see it all the time and I didn't know what to call it until that day. I was only able to identify one more thing that day, the other two plants I observed I have not yet identified to species. The strawberry was recognizable for its small white flowers and ruffled leaves. I grow these in my yard, so I was able to spot it under a tree. The UBNA has been a very fruitful place for finding new species. I've learned a lot by looking around there and I feel a little more knowledgeable each day.

Species List:
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Giant Crane Fly (Holorusia rubiginosa)
Common cattail (Typha latifolia)
Oxalis acetosella montana
Wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca americana)

Location: UW Seattle Campus (first part of my day) and Union Bay Natural Area

Route/Coordinates: The dogwood tree was located just outside the back entrance to Gowan Hall facing Suzzallo Library. The coordinates for everything else from that day are 47.6564218, -122.2927934.

Weather: It was a very cloudy, miserable day. It began raining after I observed the dogwood around 4.00pm and continued drizzling for the rest of the day as I explored UBNA some more. There was 100% cloud cover and the clouds were thick, dark, and gloomy. The wind was blowing slightly and it was about 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Habitat/Vegetation: For more information on the habitat and vegetation of the area in which I found the dogwood, see the journal entry for April 2, 2012 here on iNaturalist. For more information on the habitat and vegetation of the UBNA, see the journal entry for April 12, 2012 in my written journal.

General Comments: I had a much better camera today as I borrowed a digital one from a friend. I managed to get some fairly good pictures of a few new bird species and I found some new plants that I had not been able to identify or find before this. My favorite observations from this day are the double-crested cormorant, the bufflehead, the American coot, the coastal willow, and the Malus sargentii. I had never even heard of a bufflehead or an American coot before, so I feel like I learned a lot about them from this visit and my research afterward, so I'm grateful to have gotten to see them for myself. I learned that the Queen Anne's lace I observed, like the common cattails, was last year's dead growth that would be replaced by a new growth later in the season. I learned that birds like the northern shoveler, the bufflehead, and the American coot are all very wary of humans. They wouldn't let me get close to them at all, instead choosing to fly away or swim further out away from shore. They are all very different from the trusting mallards, who only run or fly away when I get within arms reach of them. This makes taking pictures of these birds extremely difficult, as evidenced by my rather bad pictures of the coot, shoveler, and bufflehead. I watched the great blue heron fishing in the pond for food and got to see it tense up and lash out at something in the water. I was confused at first as to why the cormorants were sitting on the small island, but I learned after this visit that it is because they have to dry their wings after diving before they can fly again. I'm beginning to feel like I've exhausted this area of interesting things to observe for the time being. I might return here when it is dark to see if new creatures come out at night, but I'm going to look at other places for now.

Species List:
mountain dogwood (Cornus nuttallii)
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) - this is one of my observations, but for some reason it did not appear as an option to associate with this journal post.
Malus sargentii
Queen Anne's Lace (Anas clypeata) - this is one of my observations, but for some reason it did not appear as an option to associate with this journal post.
American Coot (Fulica americana)
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Coastal Willow (Saliz hookeriana)
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)

Location: Magnuson Park

Coordinates: 47.6812231, -122.2477698

Weather: The sky was relatively clear all day with perhaps 20% cloud cover. It was fairly windy and the temperature was about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The lighting was good that day as it was still pretty bright out even when the clouds covered up the sun.

Habitat: Magnuson Park is very large and has many different types of habitats in it. The main types of habitats I visited were a forest, a wetland, and a beach area near the edge of Lake Washington. The forest habitat was where the red huckleberry, bracken, and ocean spray were located, the wetland was where I found the gadwall, along with many other duck species, red-winged blackbirds, and various wetland plants similar to those found at UBNA, finally, at the beach area, I found the silverspotted tiger moth caterpillars on a douglas fir tree next to the water and the Eisenia fetida clinging to a root that I dug up also on the water's edge. The forest was a good place to find small birds and low growing native plant species that I had not yet documented, though I was not able to capture any birds on camera because they're so quick and the trees were so tall. The forest area seemed like a good place to find animals such as deer, raccoons, possums, and smaller mammals like voles. The wetland area is similar to the UBNA, only smaller. There are plenty of large and small ponds dotting this section of the park that the ducks and red-winged blackbirds have really taken to. Gadwalls, mallards, and even buffleheads made this area their home and I was able to get good pictures of all of them because they stayed so close to the shore. Birds at this park must be more used to humans than birds at UBNA. This area essentially consists of a singular path with large ponds on either side of it running through its length. The wetland area at Magnuson is nothing like UBNA. The wetland at Magnuson is very controlled and it's very obvious that it was built there while UBNA is much more wild and natural with very little human influence. The beach area is very open and has very few trees obstructing one's view of the lake from any point along the area. This area is mostly for the boat launch and for people to sit by the water or play games. Ducks also call this area home and there were plenty of insects like the caterpillars and the Eisenia fetida all around because it was a nice day. This area sees less animal presence because of the human presence, though the forest and wetland were full of interesting places and things to observe.

Vegetation: The forest habitat was dominated by deciduous trees, predominately bigleaf maples. There were practically no conifers to be found there. The forest floor was dominated by ferns, especially the bracken and western sword fern. There was also an even distribution of ivy on either side of the path completely obscuring the ground and tree roots. The ocean spray was the only one of its like I saw along the path, though I'm sure there were more off into the more wild parts of the forest. The red huckleberry was also growing on the side of the path and there was more like it some distance off the path, so it was loosely distributed over the forest floor. Also in the more wild parts of the forest, Himalayan blackberry was evenly distributed along with the ivy over the forest floor. The wetland area was dominated by marsh plants like common cattails (last year's growth) and various smaller trees and shrubs of all kinds. The plants here were obviously put here by humans. There are very few things that grew in on their own as this whole area was constructed some years ago. However, it is still an interesting area because it is full of native species and because it attracts so many animals. I was not able to identify many of the plants I saw here, but the trees were all deciduous and many of the plants had berries by now. Many of the trees on the far side of the ponds had fallen down or were dead and the red-winged blackbirds and other small birds seemed to enjoy this part of the wetlands. The ponds had interesting looking algae species growing in them, though I assumed it was frog spawn at first. The algae was green and formed thick, slimy clumps with bubbles in it. This was the dominant form of water plant I could actually identify. There were plenty of things growing under the water, but I could not get a sample of one to take a picture of it or examine it. It all essentially looked like seaweed. Finally, the beach area was, as I said earlier, rather barren of obvious plant life. It was mostly covered in short grass with vetch and wood sorrel interspersed throughout. Trees, mostly conifers and willows, grew near the water's edge where all the park benches were. Among the conifers, Douglas fir was the most common species and the the willows were likely sitka willows. Vegetation did not become thicker until one approached the forest area up the hill. This area was likely barren on purpose so as to not obstruct the view of the water and to allow people to spend time there.

General Comments: This area was an interesting example of a place that isn't quite like a garden, but has such obvious human influence in it that I feel slightly guilty looking for species there because things are planted. It is a sharp contrast with UBNA since Magnuson Park is so carefully controlled while there is little evidence that anyone but the animals has influence in UBNA. It seems much more untamed and undisturbed in UBNA while it felt like I was walking through a large garden at the wetlands at Magnuson. I suppose this is to be expected since Magnuson is supposed to be a park, but it felt odd since I thought it would be more like UBNA. The forest area at Magnuson is the only area that felt remotely "wild" because everywhere else in the park seemed so groomed in comparison. I know that I prefer UBNA to this area, but I'm glad I got the chance to at least try looking around Magnuson as I did see some new things and I did want to try to look at how an area heavily populated by humans changes in comparison to an area that sees much less human traffic like UBNA. It is interesting that, though both areas are in the middle of the city, one can be so much more uninfluenced than the other. Perhaps the people at the Center of Urban Horticulture tried very hard to keep the UBNA that way. In any case, I was happy with how used to humans the ducks at Magnuson were. I got very good pictures of the gadwalls and the buffleheads to the point where I even got to see a female bufflehead. I like Magnuson because there are so many different types of habitats to observe there rather than just one like at UBNA. I got to get observations from a few different areas and have some variations. I wonder if Magnuson looks different later in the spring and into summer. I might go back to see how it changes later in the year.

Species List:
Red wiggler (Eisenia fetida)
Gadwall (Anas strepera)
Silverspotted Tiger Moth (Lophocampa argentata)
Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor)
Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium)
Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum)
Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)