Wednesday June 8th, 2016
Sunny
6:30-8:30 AM and 2:30-3:30

Because we couldn't sleep last night Ashleigh and I decided to go on an erratic hunt this morning before our test. We started out with the easier erratic, the Ravenna Park erratic. It wasn't hard at all to find mainly because we've seen it before and it's at my site. The erratic was sitting in the water and had moss growing on the side that was facing the stream. The other side of the erratic didn't have moss from what I could tell. I predict that's because it's right up against the bridge which means it sees a lot of human interaction and disturbance.

From there we went to the Wedgwood Rock which was massive. Because it was surrounded by trees and shrubs the erratic was covered in droppings from the surrounding species. Because the erratic was in the shade it also had moss growing on it.

After Wedgwood rock we hit a snag (metaphorically) when we couldn't locate the Thornton Creek erratic. We spent about an hour "exploring" (getting lost) in the patch of woods surrounding Thornton Creek. After almost giving up and going back to the car we saw a trail (right next to the entrance way, I might add). We ventured down the trail about 6 meters to find that the erratic had been under our noses the whole time. You can tell by the photo I was not amused by the amount of spider webs I had to walk through to find it.

We were about to go home and finish studying when we realized there was one more erratic in Wedgwood. Following the theme of the day, we got lost. Apparently Wedgwood Park and Wedgwood Square Park are two different things. I started to see why this assignment was called an "erratic hunt." I was expecting the erratic to be smaller than the other ones we had found today based on the picture, but apparently I am of similar size to the toddler in the picture. 

For our last rock I was under the impression that we were going to North Seattle, but of course I was wrong. We were headed to Bothel to see the Cascadia College erratic. This rock actually had a really cool story jam packed with environmental responsibility and activism. To preserve the natural history of the area, students at the college conducted a sit in for the rock! The expansion and construction of new buildings would have required the rock to be destroyed. In the hopes of preserving natural history the students conducted and sit in for the erratic and won!!! It was the perfect picker-upper I needed after taking my final. 

Land Use History: Ravenna Park is widely known for its history and how not to care for natural areas. Somehow Ravenna Park escaped the logging operations in the late 1800s, and was adopted and privately owned by the couple William and Louise Beck (Blecha, P). For many years the couple preserved the momentous and beautiful Douglas Fir trees and flaunted the mineral springs and their supposed health qualities. The couple was known for changing the name of the park every couple of years. From Big Tree Park, Twin Maples Lane, Ravenna Natural Park, and finally landing on Ravenna Park. Unfortunately, in 1911 the city of Seattle bought the park from the Beck’s destroying quite a bit of its beauty. The city cut down the well-known Douglas Firs and lowered the lake that fed into the stream, slowing down the pace and displacing many aquatic invertebrates. 

            Since then a group named Ravenna Creek Alliance has taken it upon themselves to restore the natural area as best as they can. Although some of the damage done to the park is irreparable, the group insures that the park is protected from any further damage and does restoration in the greater area. For more information on the history of Ravenna Park go to http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9559 and for more information on the group Ravenna Creek Alliance go to http://home.earthlink.net/~ravennacreek/

Plants: Identifying plants was easily my favorite aspect of this course. Not only because I found it to be the easiest, but because it gives you a whole new idea of “being aware of your surroundings.” I highly recommend not only being able to identify the plants around you, but to also be able to state their uses. For example, before the class I would have never known that sword fern helps relieve the pain from stinging nettle. A remedy that certainly came in handy when I found myself surrounded by stinging nettle on my trip to Whidbey Island. You should also be able to tell the history of that plant. For example, the Western Red Cedar was called “The Tree Of Life” because it was used to produce just about everything from canoes to clothing. Cattails were used to weave baskets and make brushes.

            While identifying trees, you should always look at the pines. Ponderosa Pines have three needles per bundle while Western White Pines have five per bundle. Another key feature to observe is the leaves of the trees. For example, the Red Alder has alternate branching leaves, while Big Leaf Maple has opposite branching leaves. You can also look at the lobes of the leaves. Big leaf maple typically has five lobes on each leaf. For pine trees, which often look similar to the amateur eye can be differentiated by the way the pines lay on the branches.  

            You can find all of these plants and trees all over Ravenna Park but you can a particularly large patch of Horsetails at Station 1. Horsetails typically grow near watery areas such as rivers, marshes, and streams, which is why you’ll find station 3 less than one meter away from the Ravenna stream. The horsetail has no leaves or flowers. When it’s in its first stage of growth the horsetail appears as a hollow stem, resembling an asparagus. In the second stage of growth thin green barren stems branch out of the plant. Horsetails are commonly used by herbalists to treat kidney and bladder problems. For more information on horsetails go to http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/horsetail.aspx

Horsetails

EDIBLE AREAS (choice station): At station four you’ll find my favorite shrub, Salmonberry. With it’s five leaflets per branch and bright pink flower, it’s almost impossible to miss in Ravenna’s sea of green shrubs. You’ll find Salmonberry at station 2, about 2.5 meters from the horsetails at station 1.

            One of my favorite aspects of the Salmonberry is its native history. According to storytellers in the Chinook First Nation the coyote was “instructed to place these berries in the mouth of each salmon he caught in order to ensure continued good fishing” and for that reason this berry came to be known as the Salmonberry (Pena, D). Others argue that the name comes from the fact that the salmonberry closely resembles the salmon egg. Because the salmonberry is native to the Pacific Northwest it has certain political restrictions around its harvesting, cultivating, and processing. Among the Coast Salish peoples, certain families have rights and reservations to the first and second rounds of harvesting.

            Besides consumption, the salmonberry is known for it’s medicinal and material uses. If you make the bark and leaves into tea, the tea can help with digestive issues such as diarrhea and dysentery. The Makah are known to use the salmonberry brambles to make tobacco pipes. The Kaigani Haida people are known to line baskets with the salmonberry plant.

For more information on the salmonberry plant go to 

http://www.goodfoodworld.com/2012/12/salmonberry-food-medicine-culture/

Dust lichen

Lichen/Fungi: At station 3, about 4 meters across the trail from station 2 you’ll find a Western Red Cedar with Dust Lichen. You will most commonly find dust lichen on shaded and sheltered bark, or sometimes on vertical rock outcrops in humid sites. Although they’re easy to identify as a group, dust lichen have many different sub species that almost impossible to identify with the naked, untrained eye (Pojar, J., MacKinnon, A., & Alaback, P. B.).

            There are seven different growth forms of lichen: dust, crust, scale, leaf, club, shrub, and hair. When telling the difference between a crust and a dust lichen you’ll notice that they’re both closely attached but dust lichen is composed of tiny, powdery balls, while crust lichen has a clear upper surface and no visible lower surface.

            Some say lichen are like the fungi that discovered agriculture (Pojar, J., MacKinnon, A., & Alaback, P. B.). Instead of invading and scavenging like other fungi, lichen cultivate within themselves. A lichen is the physical manifestation of a fungus providing protection to the alga from the elements of nature.

Invertebrates: Searching and observing for invertebrates requires the patience and dedication of bird watching, but with the added necessity of getting down into the dirt and sometimes getting your feet wet. While looking for invertebrates I was required to really test my patience and willingness to face my fear of bugs. I went crawling through bushes, digging around soil, and picking up rocks in the stream. The strategy I found the most rewarding was picking up rocks in the stream, not because it’s the easiest, because it by far isn’t, but because I find the water invertebrates to be the most interesting.

The invertebrates I had the most fun searching for at station 4 were surprisingly the stream invertebrates. Stream invertebrates are commonly used to indicate the quality of water. The steam invertebrates can be divided into three different taxa based on the quality of water. You will find taxa one strictly in good quality water due to the fact that they are not pollution tolerant invertebrates. The faster the stream is going, the cleaner the water will be. The slower the stream is going, the more polluted the water will be. Group two taxa is tolerant of polluted waters, but can also live in cleaner areas of the stream. You can find group two taxa in moderately polluted water. Group three taxa is completely tolerate of polluted waters so you will find them in the slower, more polluted parts of the stream.

While searching around the stream, it is important to be very gentle with everything you do so you can disrupt the ecosystem as little as possible. When you pick up a rock make sure to very gently replace it exactly where you found it. After turning over many rocks, I was able to find a Midge Fly Larva and a leech. Both are part of group three taxa and I was in a slower part of the stream, indicating that I was in a more polluted part of the stream.

Drawing of the crane fly I found at another station

Birds: If you’re anything like me, bird watching will not be your strong suit. You won’t be able to effectively or efficiently find birds by tasting, smelling or touching. That leaves you with seeing and hearing, and when you’re looking for small birds in a very large area, your sight won’t be all that helpful. Bird watching isn’t actually so much about the watching, but about the listening. While in my sight I found it easiest to just sit, close my eyes, and listen for anything that could hint to a bird nearby. This doesn’t necessarily mean listening for birdcalls. If you decide to just listen for the calls most calls are too difficult to hear over the sound of the city or as I quickly found out, the crows. So while you’re sitting, try to ignore the honking of cars and the “Cawing” of crows and listen for things like movement in the bushes and trees nearby.

Red Winged Blackbird

Most of the identifications I made were within 5-10 meters away. From station 5 I was able to hear the brushing of a Song Sparrow in a nearby bush. If you’re having trouble identifying the bird by it’s song, try looking at it’s features. For example, I was able to identify the Bewick’s Wren because of its upright tail feathers. Also pay close attention to the coloring and markings of the bird, I’m fairly new at bird watching so at first I got the Pacific Slope Flycatcher confused with the Wilson’s Warbler because they’re both green. I was soon able to figure out that the Pacific Slope Flycatcher was more of a greenish/grey and the Wilson’s Warbler has a black mark on it’s head.

Animal Behavior (Station 6): After bird siting I went down the trail to the right and found almost half of a dozen American Crows bathing in the stream. Although I normally despise crows, it was nice to see them calm and sitting still instead of hopping around and cawing. The crows were all bundled together within about 3-4 meters of each other. Some of the crows weren’t even bathing; they were just watching the other crows from the branches above.

Crow Bathing

            While I was watching the crows, I heard a song sparrow’s high trills and buzzes in a nearby tree. I searched the surrounding area to find the song sparrow and after what felt like forever of frantically looking in nearby branches I found the song sparrow on a higher up branch about 3 meters away. Because the song sparrow didn’t want to give the location of it’s nest away. Song sparrows are known for being territorial, something that I learned quickly while in this class. Again, bird watching takes a lot of patience so even though this sounds like a quick interaction it really took approximately 15-20 minutes.  

Geology/Geomorphology:  While I was watching the crows bathe in the stream, I could see an erratic off in the distance. Erratics are basically large boulders that could have only been moved by something as heavy and strong as a glacier. The erratic I found at station station 7 was moved there by the Vashon glacier, also known as the Cordellion Ice Sheet. The Vashon glacier retreated about 15,000 years ago and while it was retreating it had the power to push boulders so large that it’s almost impossible to move them any other way.

Vashon Glacier Erratic

            The glacier that moved this rock and many others in the Puget Sound area, was the last of seven glaciers to retreat in the region. It extended as far south as the Olympia in the west, and Spokane in the east. It took the longest to retreat because out of the seven the Cordellion Ice Sheet was the thickest. In comparison to some skyscrapers we know, the Vashon Glacier was 3,000 feet tall while Seattle’s Columbia Tower is only 997 feet tall. For more information on the Vashon Glacier go to http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5087 and for more information on erratics in the Seattle area go to https://nwgeology.wordpress.com/the-fieldtrips/glacial-erratic-field-trips/seattle-area-glacial-erratics/

Visible Ecological Interaction: At station 8, on your way back up the trail from the erratic at station 7 you’ll find a patch of sword fern on the left side of the trail. On one of those sword ferns I was able to find a spider web that was woven between the sword fern’s fronds. You’ll actually be able to see this interaction all over the park because it’s quite common for spiders to weave their webs on all sorts of ferns.

Within the spider’s web you will be able to find flies that had been trapped in the sticky web, waiting to be consumed by the spider.

            Within this web we were able to see multiple ecological interactions: the sword fern obtaining nutrients from the soil, the spider building it’s habitat on the sword fern, and the fly getting stuck in the sticky web, waiting for it’s death. You can find numerous interactions just like this all over Ravenna park. For example, you can probably look at any big leaf maple to find that it has moss on it and most likely has lady fern growing out of it. The moss absorbs water and stores it for the hotter months, when the big leaf maple will then need it due to the fact it can’t hold moisture well.

Spider's Web on top of a Sword Fern

Effects of Ecological Disturbance: One thing I never considered about pollution and global warming was how it has been affecting our plant species. There are countless species that have been edged out by the high amounts of CO2 and other toxins in the air. While at my site I was able to find a banana slug, unknowing of how rare it is I continued on my way after drawing a picture of it. This is a prime example of how human interaction with nature needs to slow down so we can fully appreciate the beauty and rarity of organisms around us.

            One species that has been highly affected by pollution is lichen. Certain species of lichen are specifically susceptible to sulfur dioxide. Due to the high toxicity of Seattle’s hair it will be near impossible to find Common Witch’s Hair in the greater Seattle area, even though it’s common on coastlines. If you were looking for Common Witch’s Hair you would have a much easier time finding it along the Olympic peninsula near the Olympic Mountains in a quieter, less densely populated area. For more information on how lichen are affected by pollution go to https://staff.concord.org/~btinker/gaiamatters/investigations/lichens/affectslichens.html

Sources Cited:

Blecha, Peter. "Ravenna Park (Seattle)." HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History. N.p., 23 Jan. 2011. Web. 08 June 2016.

Pena, D. (2012, December 17). Salmonberry: Food, Medicine, Culture - Part 1. Retrieved June 07, 2016, from http://www.goodfoodworld.com/2012/12/salmonberry-food-medicine-culture/

Pojar, J., MacKinnon, A., & Alaback, P. B. (1994). Plants of the Pacific Northwest coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia & Alaska. Redmond, WA: Lone Pine Pub.

Saturday June 4th, 2016
1:00 PM-3:00 PM
Temperature in the high 80s
Sunny

Because it was my last day observing Ravenna Park for this class I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and try to find as many new species and note as many phenological changes as I could. When I got to my sit spot I looked over to my right to see that the giant horsetails were flourishing. I found this phenological change special because the horsetails were the first species I had a hard time identifying. I remember walking around my house asking my roommates if any of them knew what it was and all of them replying "I don't know, maybe a cattail?" It seems silly now because whenever I see the long green stalk with hairs poking out of the sides, I immediately know that it's a horsetail. I was delighted to see how the horsetails in my original sit spot have grown from barely 12 inches to almost 3 feet.

Original horsetail observation

Latest observation of Horsetails

One of the most obvious phenological changes was the Salmonberries. At the beginning of the quarter, during my first weekly observations, I noticed a patch of Salmonberry next to the stream at my sit spot. I didn't know what they were until I got home and looked in my "Plants of the PNW Coast" nature guide. I remember not really thinking all that in depth when I first spotted the pink flowered shrub. I remember thinking "Oh there's a pretty pink flower. I'll try to identify that for my blog." Now when I identify the shrub I know there are three alternate leaflets, that are dark green and sharply toothed. I know the pink flower will eventually fruit into a orange-yellowish berry that birds and other animals in the area love to eat.

Week one Salmonberry 

Last observation

Reflection
At the beginning of the quarter I remember really disliking the walk to Ravenna, having to spend multiple hours a week there, and having to pick a "sit spot" to observe the species surrounding me. I can now thankfully say, that has drastically changed. At the beginning of the quarter I didn't really put much thought into my sit spot, I mostly just walked to Ravenna, started on the trails, got bored and decided that the place that I was standing would be my sit spot. I ended up being incredibly lucky because I had unknowingly picked a spot with incredible biodiversity within just 4 meters from where I was standing. What I thought was just one large shrub was actually Salmonberry, Thimbleberry and Huckleberry all competing for the same stretch of land. I saw that there was easy access to the stream, not knowing that I would have the chance to get in there and find leeches. I saw that there was a log crossing over the stream and I thought to myself "oh that will be helpful for crossing over the stream to look at those smelly plants on the other side" (Skunk Cabbage). I later found out that the log was actually a nurse log, retaining water during the colder months and providing moisture to the surrounding plants during the summer months. When I first looked at my site I remember thinking that it was really green and there wasn't much variation in color. Now when I walk through my original sit spot I can very easily spot the different colors poking out of the greenery. Whether it's the orange salmonberries or the white flower on the thimbleberry that just bloomed, there's always color to be found.

Since joining this class I have learned numerous things about plant species, wildlife, species interactions, but most importantly to me I have learned about the history of our region. I was most intrigued during the beginning weeks when we learned about what the Puget Sound region looked like pre-industrialization. It was really quite heartbreaking to learn how we cut off and diverted rivers and bodies of water, destroying the native lifestyle in the region. I was reminded of this every time I would go to my observation spot and see the Ravenna stream that used to be a strong river. I found it inspiring that the Seattle area has realized what mistakes we've made and how they're taking active steps to restore some of the land. For example, we learned quite a bit about Union Bay Natural Area and the steps the university and surrounding community are taking to try to reverse some of the effects industrialization and ignorance of natural systems has had on that habitat. One of the more beautiful aspects of the curriculum, at least for me, was learning about the Puget Trough glacial melt and how it shaped where we live today. I spent way more time than I should have searching for the erratic that was left behind in the glacial melt. As you can probably tell from the multiple weeks it took me to find a massive boulder, I wasn't born with the most acute observational skills. After finding the boulder I felt a much greater connection to the natural history of where I have lived my whole life. I stood in awe starring at something that has withstood industrialization, the river turning into a stream, and much more than I could ever comprehend.

I think that the greatest thing I've been able to take away from the class is the intimate bond I have formed with my sites in Ravenna Park. For me at least, to intimately know a natural area you have to know more than just the history of the area you're learning about. From this class and other classes I've taken at UW I know the history of Ravenna when talking about the family that privately owned it to help protect the trees. I know that once the land was sold to the city those trees were cut down. As I said before, I know that it was once a thriving river and after the effects of mankind it has been turned into a stream. But all of that knowledge only allows me to have a surface level understanding of Ravenna Park. To intimately know that natural area, I was required to spend hours on end observing it, feeling it, and experiencing it. Because I spent those hours there I know which territories belong to the song birds and where you can find the crows bathing in the stream. Because I endured cold weather and getting my feet wet when I would have normally preferred to have been at home in a blanket, I know which parts of the stream are strongest, which are weakest, and which stream invertebrates you'll find accordingly. Having an intimate relationship with a natural area means knowing more than what history books and websites can teach you, having an intimate relationship with the natural area means that for a certain period of time you got to experience it's natural history and be a part of it. I think I gained much more from going to my sit spot in the middle of a city weekly than I did going on field trips over the span of a day or a weekend. I did get to experience aspects that I wasn't able to in the city. For example, seeing the prickly pear cactus growing on the side of a beach on the Olympic Peninsula. I do think that if I spent as much time there as I did in Ravenna I could learn more just due to the fact that those areas have been much less affected by industrialization and mankind. I would love to have the opportunity to observe old growth forests in the olympic rain shadow and see how the trees have grown over time. But overall in this class I feel like I've learned much more from sitting in Ravenna than walking around the forest across the peninsula.

I've always appreciated nature but I feel as if this class has equipped me with a skill set to better understand and admire it. At the beginning of this class I could genuinely not tell the difference between a Douglas Fir, a Grand Fir, and a Western Red Cedar. Now that we're in the final days of the course not only can I tell you the difference between the three, but I can also tell you what each can be used for in daily life. A very large personal growth that I have experienced because of this class is the observational skills you use while identifying birds. At the beginning of this class I strongly disliked birds, at the end of this class I'm still terrified of them, but now I can at least identify them. I am not kidding when I say that I could only name about 5 birds before this class. Now I can tell you all about how Song Birds have territories, how they are supposed to be monogamous, and how if a male loses his territory to another song bird, he will likely lose his mate too. Although I'm still scared of birds, I now have a greater appreciation for their systems and how they live. I find them a little less terrifying and a little more intriguing every time I learn something new about them. I think the observation skills I've learned in this class have opened up new pathways for me to appreciate and learn from nature.

My perception of nature has changed quite a bit in this class, but mainly just my understanding of it. This class hasn't really painted nature in a new light for me because I've always loved nature. I've had the privilege of growing up less than a mile away from a state park my whole life so I've always loved and appreciated plants and their delicate ecosystems. This class has changed my perception of nature by deepening my appreciation of it more than I could have ever imagined. When I signed up for the class I thought "natural history" meant I would be sitting in Condon learning from a powerpoint about the Puget Sound, which I did, but most of our learning was outside of the classroom. I now know that natural history can be seen with the trained eye in everyday life. I've always known where humans stand in nature and where they should. This class further reinforced that so far humanity's role in nature has mostly proven destructive, as we very quickly learned with the destruction of the ecosystems and rivers in the Puget Sound area. I also know that since we have done such an expedited job in destroying nature, it is our job to restore and educate others on how to protect what we have left. This class has provided me with the tools to see past what just seems like a forest full of conifers and to see the life beneath the canopy of the trees, and most importantly how to use those identification skills to protect it.

My last walkthrough where I showed my friend some of what I have learned

 

Ravenna Park Walking Tour Rough Draft

Birds: If you’re anything like me, bird watching will not be your strong suit. You won’t be able to effectively or efficiently find birds by tasting, smelling or touching. That leaves you with seeing and hearing, and when you’re looking for small birds in a very large area, your sight won’t be all that helpful. Bird watching isn’t actually so much about the watching, but about the listening. While in my sight I found it easiest to just sit, close my eyes, and listen for anything that could hint to a bird nearby. This doesn’t necessarily mean listening for birdcalls. If you decide to just listen for the calls most calls are too difficult to hear over the sound of the city or as I quickly found out, the crows. So while you’re sitting, try to ignore the honking of cars and the “Cawing” of crows and listen for things like movement in the bushes and trees nearby.

Most of the identifications I made were within 5-10 meters away. From my regular spot I was able to hear the brushing of a Song Sparrow in a nearby bush. If you’re having trouble identifying the bird by it’s song, try looking at it’s features. For example, I was able to identify the Bewick’s Wren because of its upright tail feathers. Also pay close attention to the coloring and markings of the bird, I’m fairly new at bird watching so at first I got the Pacific Slope Flycatcher confused with the Wilson’s Warbler because they’re both green. I was soon able to figure out that the Pacific Slope Flycatcher was more of a greenish/grey and the Wilson’s Warbler has a black mark on it’s head.

Invertebrates: Searching and observing for invertebrates requires the patience and dedication of bird watching, but with the added necessity of getting down into the dirt and sometimes getting your feet wet. While looking for invertebrates I was required to really test my patience and willingness to face my fear of bugs. I went crawling through bushes, digging around soil, and picking up rocks in the stream. The strategy I found the most rewarding was picking up rocks in the stream, not because it’s the easiest, because it by far isn’t, but because I find the water invertebrates to be the most interesting.

The invertebrates I had the most fun searching for were surprisingly the stream invertebrates. Stream invertebrates are commonly used to indicate the quality of water. The steam invertebrates can be divided into three different taxa based on the quality of water. You will find taxa one strictly in goo quality water due to the fact that they are not pollution tolerant invertebrates. (Insert quality of water based on speed of stream). Group two taxa is tolerant of polluted waters, but can also live in cleaner areas of the stream. You can find group two taxa in moderately polluted water. Group three taxa is completely tolerate of polluted waters so you will find them in the slower, more polluted parts of the stream.

While searching around the stream, it is important to be very gentle with everything you do so you can disrupt the ecosystem as little as possible. When you pick up a rock make sure to very gently replace it exactly where you found it. After turning over many rocks, I was able to find a Midge Fly Larva and a leech. Both are part of group three taxa and I was in a slower part of the stream, indicating that I was in a more polluted part of the stream.

Plants: Identifying plants was easily my favorite aspect of this course. Not only because I found it to be the easiest, but because it gives you a whole new idea of “being aware of your surroundings.” I highly recommend not only being able to identify the plants around you, but to also be able to state their uses. For example, before the class I would have never known that sword fern helps relieve the pain from stinging nettle. A remedy that certainly came in handy when I found myself surrounded by stinging nettle on my trip to Whidbey Island. You should also be able to tell the history of that plant. For example, the Western Red Cedar was called “The Tree Of Life” because it was used to produce just about everything from canoes to (Insert Usage). Cattails were used to weave baskets and make brushes.

            While identifying trees, you should always look at the leaves or pines. Ponderosa Pines have three needles per bundle while Western White Pines have five per bundle. Another key feature to observe is the leaves of the trees. For example, (Insert tree name) has alternate branching leaves, while (insert tree name) has opposite branching leaves. You can also look at the lobes of the leaves. Big leaf maple typically has (number) of lobes on each leaf. For pine trees, which often look similar to the amateur eye can be differentiated by the way the pines lay on the branches.  

            You can find all of these plants and trees all over Ravenna Park but you can a particularly large patch of Horse Tails at Station 3. (Talk more about Horse Tails).

           

EDIBLE AREAS (choice station): Discuss the berries that were found around the park

Geology/Geomorphology:  While looking for invertebrates in the Ravenna Stream I was able to find an erratic. Discuss history of erratics and seattle glacier.

Tuesday May 24th 2016
11:30-1:00 PM
Overcast
61-63 degrees Fahrenheit

I spent a lot more time here than I originally had intended today. I didn't anticipate actually enjoying following bird movements but it was surprisingly mesmerizing. After last weeks blog post, I learned its better to sit down and let the bird come to me rather than me seek out them. I decided to sit next to the log at my sit spot and stare at the Western Red Cedar across the trail. I could hear the birds singing but couldn't identify them from their calls until I noticed some movement in the brush about 4 meters from the tree. I gently walked over to see what was playing around in the bushes and was pleased to find a Bewick's Wren. I was able to identify the small bird by its sharp upright tail and seemingly white eyebrows. After observing it for 2 minutes I now know and can identify its sharp and short whistles. Then wren hopped from branch to branch and eventually took flight into the Western Red Cedar. I wasn't able to observe the bird capture or feed on anything, but I was able to notice that this one enjoyed perching on branches and flying short distances at a relatively moderate height. The constant movement made it difficult to get a decent sketch of the wren but I did my best to pay attention to it's key features.

Bewick's Wren

Being an incredibly territorial bird, the song sparrow soon appeared, pushing out the wren. I was able to identify it not only because of the markings and brown spots of the bird but also because of its "tweet chirp chip chip tweet" call. I am a beginner at bird watching so I'm not sure if this is an accurate description of the call but that was how I was able to identify it. I tried my best to follow it and by my best I mean I almost fell into the stream when he flew across the path.

Song Sparrow

The easiest birds to identify in my sit spot, or really anywhere else, was the crows. With their loud, shrill squawks, you really don't even need to see them. Even though I didn't need to see the bird to identify it as a crow, it was more than willing to fly down next to me and prevent me from listening to any other bird calls. I have come to realize that crows are the divas of the bird community. Not that I wanted to, but I was able to follow this bird the longest because he just really didn't mind my presence. I was able to observe him for about 5 minutes before I got tired of watching him hop around the ground looking for food.

Trying to get away from the crow and avoid its ridiculously loud call, I was forced to stray about 6 meters from my normal sit spot. After about 7-10 minutes I was welcomed by Pacific Slope Flycatcher. I wasn't able to identify it immediately so my sketch came in handy when I got home and had to look it up. The little guy was a greenish/grey color with brown wings. While identifying the bird I learned that the species migrates south to Mexico during the winter and can compete for territory amongst each other. Their nests are usually near or on the ground which I found interesting because most birds nests I've seen have been high up in trees. I hope to find some nests in Ravenna eventually. 

Pacific Slope Flycatcher

My favorite bird I saw today was easily the Wilson's Warbler (Cardellina pusilla). I loved the bright, vibrant colors and it's high pitch, fast speed chirping song. I wish I could have gotten closer to this bird but I had barely enough time to even sketch him out. I was able to identify it as a male because of the black cap right above the eyes and beak. Like the Pacific Slope Flycatcher, these birds migrate to Mexico during the winter.

Wilson's Warbler

Since I was previously gone for a few weeks, a lot of different shrubs in the area started to flower, making them to identify. One shrub that I was able to identify was Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus). Unfortunately, they haven't started to grow berries quite yet. They looked like they were getting close so I'm going to check the progress next week before my final project.

Thimbleberry