themajesticcoot's Journal

Going to Canyon Lake in the morning was nice - it was really peaceful there and I was the only one there for a good 30 minutes. It was a little chilly, but there was little wind and the sky was rather clear. I went along the shore of the lake for pretty much all of the trip, I wanted to see what kind of aquatic and semi-aquatic life I could find. I didn't find as much as I'd like, I think that's because of the temperature and the fact that I didn't stay long.
A few things I noticed / learned:

1. I didn't find that many arthropods. I wonder if this is because of the temperature or if there aren't that many species of semi-aquatic freshwater arthropods in the area. I believe that it's more likely because of the temperature.
2. I should record more plants. It'll be Spring soon, so a lot of the plants will start blooming. I knew that the more desert-y parts of Arizona have mistletoes, but I didn't realize how big they can get. Animals also like to be on plants, so that's another reason to pay attention.
3. Bring a battery pack and charge my phone before leaving. I ran low on battery, which is why I left early. The battery pack will let me spend several hours, using the camera on my phone eats up the charge.
4. The Great-Tailed Grackle with white feathers was thinner than the other grackles. I wonder how common it is for them to have white feathers, is it rare to find because it's a rare mutation or because the grackles don't survive long so they can't pass on their genes? The only other grackle I've found with white feathers was at the Phoenix Zoo, so it's likely that a lack of predators and easy access to food help those grackles to survive. The trait is either non-heritable or for any amount of reasons the allele(s) for it aren't common.

Went with another person today, so I didn't look for animals that much. Because of all the rain, the creek had a good amount of water in it. There was slightly melted snow on the ground, so I found more tracks than anything else.
Going to other environments is a good idea, I found several plants that I've never really seen before. The birds were also quite different, I found a few jays but couldn't get any pictures of them.
The most interesting thing I found was the bird like tracks. I couldn't see any shoe prints next to some of the tracks, so I think that an actual animal might have made them. The gait was too narrow though, so I don't know what kind of animal walks like that, I only do when I'm trying to balance on something thin.

Today did not go as planned at all. I originally wanted to go to Saguaro Lake but there were too many people there, so I instead got lost and ended up in Payson somehow. It still felt a little chilly to me, but the other people there were talking about how it's warmer than they would expect for this time of year.

Most of the animals I saw there were very similar to the ones I find in Phoenix. It would be interesting to go to different cities across Arizona and see how similar the urban wildlife is. Really the only animal that stood out to me as different was the brown geese, all the others were either animals I've already seen in Phoenix or ones I'd expect to see. Once I figure out what species the geese are I might do some looking into where they're from to see if there's a reason I've never seen them in Phoenix.