Wednesday May 18th
Cloudy
63 degrees Fahrenheit
2:00-3:00 PM

Today I spent quite a bit of time at my site crawling around the creek, turning over rocks and small logs, hoping to find an ant or worm hiding. It was much more difficult than I thought it would be. After a while of unsuccessfully searching I decided to sit down on the nurse log that branches across the creek. I sat there for about five minutes, still and silent, and was lucky enough to spot a Pillbug (Order: Isopoda), or more affectionately known as roly poly bugs. These bugs are known for curling up into balls as a defense mechanism against predators. They can be easily identified by their 7 distinct segments and sharply-angled antennae.

Pillbug

After my success with the pillbug I thought I would test my luck with an unidentified plant about 5 meters across the path from my sit spot. While hoping to find some ants on the leaves of the plant I spotted a Crane Fly (Order: Diptera), also known as mosquito eater. I was able to quickly spot and identify it as it flew through a group of Gnats (Dipterid suborder). It's large wing and 3 leg pairings made it easily identifiable amongst the small, almost invisible gnats. 

Crane Fly

After about 15 minutes of unsuccessfully wading through the endless amount of gnats, I was able to find a beautiful little lady bug (Order: coleoptera) resting on a sword fern about 2 meters away from a Western Red Cedar. At first glance I was able to identify the antennae and legs but wasn't able to identify the hard red shell or the white spots on the head, which at first glance looked like eyes. After getting home and looking up the anatomy of the lady bug I was able to identify the hard shell as the Elytra and the white spots as Pronotum. Under the Elytra you can find the wings of the lady bug. I got to see the process of the elytra separating and the wings coming out when I accidentally spooked my small friend, resulting in them flying to another plant.

Ladybug

Today marked substantial growth with my fear of spiders when I spotted a Daddy Long Legs (Arachnids) in a patch of buttercup flowers. I was initially very happy to spot the buttercups because 3 weeks ago when I had last been at my sit spot they hadn't bloomed yet, so I hadn't previously noticed them. This excitement quickly turned into terror when I spotted this spider-like insect crawling a few inches from my feet. I faced my fear long enough to sketch the long legged creature. After looking further into the insect I found out that Daddy Long Legs aren't actually spiders, they only have one pair of eyes, don't produce silk, and aren't venomous. After finding this out, I wish I would have gotten closer, as you can tell from my sketch, I admired this arachnid from a comfortable distance. 

Daddy Long Legs

Haiku: My Not So Furry Friend

Long and slow paced

Leaving a translucent track

Hidden from sunlight

If you're still wondering, my haiku was about a Banana slug (family: Ariolimacidae) I found near the creek under the canopy of a Western Red Cedar. 

Over the past couple of weeks I've been wondering about how my salmonberry plants were doing and I'm very excited to announce that they finally starting sprouting berries! One of the berries I found looked like it had been recently scavenged by possibly a bird or local insect. 

Salmon Berry

I was surprised to find that my horsetails had grown almost a foot since the last time I saw them. I'm excited to see how tall they grow by the end of the quarter. 

Giant Horsetail