tessaf's Journal

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)

Location: Union Bay Natural Area

Coordinates: 47.6564218, -122.2927934

Weather: The sky on this visit to UBNA was overcast and the sun had only been shining early that morning. The wind was hardly blowing and the temperature was about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. It began drizzling at around 7.30pm and did not stop even after I left at 8.00. The lighting was good despite the clouds.

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

General Comments: This was not a very fruitful day for gathering observations, unfortunately. I think I've finally exhausted the UBNA of plants I can easily identify. I found one maple that I was unable to properly identify and some salal that was flowering, which I already had from Pack Forest (I wanted an example of salal that is in bloom). The only good find from this day was the black-capped chickadee. I had been having trouble getting a good enough picture of this kind of bird because they are so fast hopping from branch to branch. This one sat still long enough for me to get usable, albeit blurry, picture where one can see its defining black cap. The only other unusual thing I saw that day was a small spider blending in with the stalk of prairie grass on which its web was partially strung. It was clearly doing so to both avoid predators and lure in its prey and I thought this was a very interesting phenomenon to be able to observe. I watched it for awhile, but I was not able to get a picture of it performing this bit of camouflage, unfortunately. I think I'll probably look for new places to go from now on. I want to see areas that aren't wetlands for my final observations just to make things a little different.

Species List:
Salal (Gaultheria shallon)
Black-capped Chickadee (Parus atricapillus)
Unknown maple with small, green leaves and little flowers.

Location: A small grassy area outside Hansee Hall.

Coordinates: 47.660909, -122.307673

Weather: It was a bright, sunny day out with about 15-20% cloud cover. Though it was sunny, the temperature was only about 55 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was blowing fairly hard, making it too cold for me to look for more observations. The lighting was excellent.

Habitat/Vegetation: For more information on the habitat and vegetation of this area, please see the journal for March 27, 2012 here on iNaturalist.

General Comments: I found this common earthworm being attacked by a large crow and my approach happened to scare the bird off. The worm was still very much alive and kept trying to slither away from me and into the dirt. Its back end appeared to have been ripped open by the crow and a clear liquid was oozing out. I wanted to get more pictures of worms and insects, so I'm happy I had this chance. I hardly ever see earthworms, surprisingly, so this was pure luck for me.

Species List:
Common earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris)

Location: 22001–22045 Cliff Ave S, Des Moines, Washington. This is a small beach area near my house that happens to be next to the boat docks on Puget Sound.

Coordinates: 47.4032954, -122.3299308

Weather: It was a very sunny day, but there was about 40% cloud cover at times. There was very little wind blowing that day and it was about 59 degrees Fahrenheit. The lighting was very good as the sun was bright all day and rarely went behind the clouds.

Habitat: This is my first time during this project exploring an intertidal zone habitat. I found many species here I had never seen before and species I had seen previously on beach forays. I learned about a lot of them by taking the marine biology class at the UW in fall quarter, so I had little trouble making identifications. This was not a sandy beach by any means. The ground was covered in large rocks and deep tide pools. When the tide is in, this beach is completely submerged underwater, so I was lucky to catch it at low tide when I could explore that day. The marine life was concentrated in and around these tide pools, as the aquatic species needed to keep to them to avoid drying out and the birds I spotted were circling them looking for a meal. The only aquatic creatures not living in the tide pools were the barnacles and mussels, which don't need to be covered in water at all times. The mussels and barnacles absolutely coated the rocks on the ground and it was nearly impossible to walk without stepping on them. The California mussels were present in the greatest and most even concentrations all over these rocks. The tide pools were where most of the interesting species were located. My most exciting find from the tide pools was the sand dollar, as I had never seen one alive before. I had only ever found them dried up and picked clean on the beach. These were living in the deeper tide pools and were all covered in a fine layer of black tentacles that they use to catch food. They were still rough to the touch, but the tentacles suckered on to my fingers. I also got to witness acorn barnacles feeding in the tide pools. When acorn barnacles feed, they open up and send out small "cirri" or little tendrils that they use to filter out detritus from the water. I watched them swishing their cirri back and forth through the water, though they closed back up into their impermeable shells when I tried to touch them. The barnacles living on the rocks out of the water, obviously, remained closed and safe from the sun. Tiny hermit crabs of the species Pagurus granosimanus skittered through tide pools alongside the sand dollars. They inhabited shells of tiny sea snails and were identifiable by the small dots covering their bodies when looked at closely. These species I outlined above were all the most common at this beach. Some other interesting ones, like the shrimp and the two mid-sized shore crabs, showed up once, but I never saw another of their kind that day. There were plenty of smaller crabs hiding under rocks, but I could not get them to species and I did not want to disturb them like all of the little kids were doing (I watched one little brat drop a huge rock on top of a group of them. Needless to say, I yelled at him and got yelled at in turn by his mother.). Finally, the only non-aquatic creatures I found that day were birds. There were plenty of glaucous-winged gulls looking around for food and I happened upon the group of house sparrows near the edge of the dock. The caspian tern was a surprising find, as I had never seen one before. I watched it dive for food a few times and as it got chased off by an angry gull. There was a large group of birds floating in the Sound at a distance, but I could not see them clearly to get an identification.

Vegetation: Because it was a beach, there were no trees, shrubs, or common terrestrial plants growing in the area I searched, though there were in the park area next to it (I didn't look around that place that day). The only vegetation present was different species of seaweed. I found two in particular that were extremely common up and down the beach: rockweed and Porphyra umbilicalis. The rockweed was found growing higher up on the beach where the rocks were larger. It had air pockets on the ends of it and was extremely slimy. The most dominant species of seaweed was the Porphyra umbilicalis. It was a brown, crumpled seaweed that did not grow in patches, but solitary. This species was all over the beach and in the tide pools. There were other species of seaweed present that were slightly less common than the first two I mentioned, but I could not identify them.

General Comments: I wish I had devoted more time to exploring beaches like this one in the past. It was exciting to see the sand dollar in its living form and to see all of the little crabs and barnacles feeding. I love going to the ocean, as I used to surf, and I hope to visit again for this project in the future. I came up with many questions after my visit to the beach. Why haven't I ever seen sand dollars alive before this? Why was the caspian tern the only one of its kind present that day? Why were the house sparrows down by the beach that day? Why were there no starfish present? Was the lack of starfish responsible for the huge populations of barnacles and mussels? I hope to answer these questions with another visit to the beach, though I don't know if I'll have time for it in these last two weeks of the quarter.

Species List:
Sand dollar (Dendraster excentricus)
Acorn barnacle (Semibalanus balanoides)
Purple shore crab (Hemigrapsus nudus)
Yellow shore crab (Hemigrapsus oregonensis)
Rockweed (Fucus distichus)
California mussel (Mytilus californianus)
House sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens)
Porphyra umbilicalis
Pagurus granosimanus
Heptacarpus carinatus
Caspian tern (Sterna caspia)
Various smaller crab species
Various unidentifiable seaweed species

Location: The finch, heron, and horsetail were all from the UW Seattle campus. The Northern Flicker and the Pileated Woodpecker were both found at the Washington Park Arboretum.

Route: The purple finches were flitting around near the Physics and Astronomy building, but I've seen them all over campus, so there is no one route to follow where one will see them every time. The heron baby was located in the heron rookery near the chemistry buildings, which can be reached by heading down the path from the fountain towards the copse of trees. The field horsetail was located beneath a tree in the UW medicinal herb garden that can be reached by merely exiting the copse from the other side.

Weather: The weather that day was bright and sunny for most of the day. It was about 65 degrees Fahrenheit all day and there was no cloud cover until around seven o'clock in the evening. There was a slight breeze and the lighting was excellent for taking pictures.

Habitat: The habitat of the areas I found the finch, heron, and horsetail in has been outlined in many of my past journals. As for the Washington Park Arboretum, the areas I visited were nearly entirely forest habitats. There were a few ponds scattered here and there where waterfowl could be found, but that was only difference in habitat I saw. The area is very neat and trimmed. Many of the plant species were clearly put there by humans, as a lot of them were not native to the state. In terms of animals, birds were the only common sight in the forest. The Northern Flicker and the Pileated Woodpecker were the most notable sightings, as the rest were common Mallards and Gadwalls in the ponds and Song Sparrows in woods hopping along the ground looking for food. There were also crows and hummingbirds throughout the entire area as well as some other birds calling out from the tree tops that I could not identify. I encountered squirrels twice in my entire visit (that was the reason I went in the first place, as it was for my class project), but they were both extremely skittish and would not let me get within ten feet of them before running up a tree. The one squirrel I did get close to was up in a small Japanese maple tree and was notable because it had enormous testicles, something I needed to observe for the aforementioned project. I got to see it mark its territory in the tree (or maybe it was just relieving itself, I'm not really sure). In any case, these were the only animals I witnessed that day, and the two birds I documented on iNaturalist were the most important. I saw the Northern Flicker first. I was looking for food in the grass next to the edge of the Arboretum. I thought it was a female Mallard at first by its coloration, but then I saw that it was much smaller and was clearly something else entirely. It flew into a large Douglas fir before I could get closer and observe its behavior a little longer, however. The Pileated Woodpecker came as I was leaving the Arboretum. I glimpsed it flying from across a clearing from one conifer to another just off the path. I then observed it for awhile as it climbed up and down the trunk of the conifer it was in looking for a spot to peck at. It was much larger than I expected and I was captivated by its striking red crown. There was a "beach" type area on the other side of the Arboretum that I did not explore that day, as I did not expect to find anything, so that's pretty much it for the habitat at that area. It is, essentially, one big forest where different plant species from all over the world are shown off to visitors.

Vegetation: The forest at the Arboretum is primarily deciduous, though there is a smattering of conifers across the area. All the major trees are at least 30 to 40 feet tall and made excellent places for the birds and squirrels to hide. The ground was covered with an even distribution of things like western sword fern, ivy, and flowering plants. It is extremely important to note that just about everything here is planted, which is obvious from the fact that almost none of it beyond the large trees is native. The large trees are mostly bigleaf maple, Douglas firs, and western red cedars. The smaller trees and the shrubs are almost all non-natives and all had tags on them denoting species, so it seemed like cheating to take pictures of them and put them on iNaturalist. This is why I only have two observations from that day. The ponds had only two main aquatic plant species in them: algae and lily pads. They were surrounded only by grass and more small shrubs. The flowering plants largely consisted of brightly colored azaleas of all kinds that were clearly put there for their aesthetic value. They were on one side of the path for nearly the entire length of my journey through the Arboretum and it was clear they were very popular with the bumble bees.

General Comments: I don't really have much to say about the observations made earlier this day. I've talked about the UW many times and I want to branch out beyond it in my journal entries. I've decided that, from now on, I'm only going to write journals about species I see at UW if it is from a class visit or if I see something really unusual in a place I haven't really talked about before (which will be hard because I've talked about most places at the UW in past entries). The Arboretum is certainly not a place to look for native species. While there were a few of them among the planted shrubs and smaller trees, many more of those were non-natives put there for both aesthetic value and to educated people on plants of the world. It is a good place for birds, however, as they love the tall trees and ponds. I got to see two species I had never seen before, so I'm happy with how the trip went. I went looking for squirrels originally and I did get to see how their behavior at a more wild place like the arboretum differed from squirrel behavior at the UW. I wonder why they are so much more skittish when they still encounter plenty of people in their habitat and still take food from them. I also wonder what other mammals live at the Arboretum, because, if they are there, I didn't see them. I'm sure raccoons, opossums, and other smaller mammals make their homes there, but I doubt larger things like deer do. I am sure that, if I were to go there at night, I would see some interesting things.

Species List:
Purple Fince (Carpodacus purpureus)
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense)
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Pileated Woodpecker (Drycopus pileatus)