WEEK 7

Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
Weather: Parting clouds, sunshine and a light mist
Temperature: ~50 degrees F
Time: 4:00pm - 5:00pm
Location: Ravenna Park

A repeat view of my site 

Part 1: Weekly Site Phenology 

What a struggle it has been to pull myself together and continue productive habits throughout this quarter, and particularly this week. With family trips, mid-terms, papers and the incessant reminder that summer is just around the corner, time-management is consistently one of my largest battles to overcome. However, in the mess of planning and rainy days, I was gladly able to take myself away from the material world once again, and enter the tranquil nature realm I call  my home  "Observation Site" at Ravenna Park.  

This week, the sun began to peek through the clouds and cascade through the flourishing Bigleaf Maples to shower my site in patches of sunlight and warmth. The sparse clouds left in the sky were persistent in raining on my parade, yet left me with only light showers and a comfortable, refreshing mist. Compared to the mass flooding that occurred at my site after the torrential downpour last week, Ravenna Creek was performing at its finest. The water was crystal clear and without the characteristic littering and pollution I typically observe at the site (a pleasant surprise). I always peer into water hoping to see a small fish, but have yet to find one. 

The fauna and foliage at my site thrives in these temperate conditions, growing greener and taller than ever before. Examples of this can be seen with the increase of leaf size in species such as the Beaked Hazelnut, Bigleaf Maple, Salmonberry, and ferns featured in the images below. I saw hints of berries growing on the Salmonberry in weeks past, but this was the first time I have seen a fully-developed, ripe berry. Though most of the berries accessible to the pathway had been picked over and eaten, good berries were still visible above my head, and also deep within the thorny thicket of the Salmonberry stems. The berry is a salmon color (duh), a light coral, and although I did not eat the few I found, they are known to have a bitter, yet pleasing taste. The Horse Chestnut has also shown exciting new growth. This new growth was easy to identify because it is smaller in size, lighter in color, softer in texture and has less-defined veins and serrated edges. Continued growth can also be seen in the towering Giant Horsetail stalks, and the (possibly invasive) grasses that flourish next to the creek's edge.

Given the drastic advances in growth in the past week, I have also found two new species, identifiable by their recently blooming buds. I identified my first small flower to be a Western Buttercup, with glossy yellow petals, many stamens, and branched stems. They are known to bloom between April and June and are commonly found in large patches. The second flower I found, I have yet to identify. With a woody stem, I cannot tell if this is a large shrub or a small tree. The leaves are silky and smooth, about three inches in length and have defined veins on the underside. They sprout clusters of small white flowers that each have five petals and are quite cute. I plan to ID this species next week with Cindy Luskus to be sure. 

Ravenna Creek in all its glory! After a light rain, the water was especially clear,
quite unlike the murkey flooded water after my last visit. 

(More clear water)
 I can't wait until the weather warms up so that I can dip my toes in. 

Beautiful Beaked Hazelnut (Corylus cornuta)! The leaves have grown almost twice
their original size.

A Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) ... The leaves are finally big!

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) leaves also growing larger than ever seen before.
Keep it up big guy! 

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) has berries now! Way to go!
Berries are a light coral color (salmon-colored), and most had been eaten. 

Western Sword Fern(s), looking vibrant and lively.

Lady Fern, also a gem! Its arching fronds have grown unthinkable large.

*New growth* on my Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) tree! So exciting.
Identifiable by lighter color and smaller size. 

Mature Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) leaves.
(Compare to the new growth featured above)

They grow up so fast :')
Just last week I was taken aback by how tall my  Giant Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia) has come to be since Week 1, and again I am amazing, as its growth has now surpassed my kneecaps. 

Growth on my  Common Velvetgrass (Holcus lanatus)
... with nodes!

A close-up of my sweet-sprouting-swap-grass!

*New species*, the Western Buttercup (Ranunculus occidentalis)
Identifiable by its glossy yellow petals, blooming April-June. 

Close-up image of the Western Buttercup (Ranunculus occidentalis)

*Unidentified Species*!
Small, white flowers with 5 petals each, ~1 cm in size. 

*Unidentified species*!
The leaf of the species featured above, undulating edges, woody stem, about 3 in. in length.

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Part II: Fungi & Lichen Identification

Let's start the party with some good ol' moss! 

Popularly found on my Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia), Big Shaggy Moss is all over the lower branches of this creek-side tree. This moss is light green in color, with mats of narrow and sprawling irregular branches. The tiny leaves can be seen in the images below, with red-brown stems and a horizontal spore case. The moss is soft to the touch and great at absorbing and retaining water, much like a sponge. This moss is reminiscent of the extraordinary Old Man's Beard that I saw while in the Olympic National forest. 

I'm likin' those lichens!

My first identified lichen is Oakmoss Lichen. Fallen from a towering tree (possibly a Grand Fir), this lichen is small at approximately one inch in diameter, with soft white, gray, and yellowish forking branches. It has no fruiting bodies and is commonly found on twigs, like that featured in the images below. 

What I had thought to be Lung Liverwort in my previous observations, I now understand to be Veined Lichen. After picking some of the lichen off of the erratic, turning it over in my hands, and slowly picking it apart, the color, texture, and features clearly tell me that this lichen has been mislabeled. The Veined Lichen, rather, has gray to brown lobes, down-turned edges, raised veins on the underside and extended lobe tips. Commonly found on soil, rocks, and rotting wood, the Veined Lichen is a common occurrence in Pacific Northwest Forests such as the one found in Ravenna Park. 

Mushroom Madness! What more could a person want?

Help! They could want help in identifying such a cool mushroom! After numerous failed attempts of finding this mushroom on the match-maker site that guest speaker, Noelle suggested, and failed accounts in the field guide, my identification for this beautiful species will have to wait until next week. What I have to go-off of now are purely visual identifiers. For example, the mushroom is dominated by white, cream, and light-gray colored gills and lacks a covered cap. It has no ring on the stalk and a bubbled, fuzzy, molded-looking base. It is about four inches in length with a cap that is approximately one inch in diameter. I look forward to working with Cindy Luskus in the week to come to find out more! 

Although this tree is not directly on my "Observation Site" location, the mushrooms sprouting from its sides were too cool to pass up. This Artist's Fungus (Ganoderma applanatum) also known as "Artist's Conk" can grow to 16 inches with a flat, shiny, dark brown cap, and semicircular, white underside. They grow all year-round and are most common on the trunks of dead, and dying trees. (i.e. The sad-looking Grand Fir featured below)

Lastly, I believe this mushroom to be the Fairy Ring Mushroom. With a relatively small size, only about an inch tall in my hand, and found on its own, this mushroom has a tan cap with a central bump and exaggerated gills. The edges are white with cream and light brown gills, and it is known to grow in especially rainy, damp areas. I plan on checking the accuracy of this identification with Cindy Luskus in the week to come as well. 

~ The End ~

WEEK 6

Date: Monday, May 13, 2013
Weather: Partly cloudy, moments after a torrential downpour
Temperature: ~60 degrees F
Time: 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: Ravenna Park

A repeat view of my site

After a relentlessly busy weekend yet fun-filled weekend, it was entirely refreshing to take some time and visit my observation site, with nothing but my weekly task and bird watching to fill my head. I headed home from school around 1:30pm, and had all night to visit my site. However, at around 1:50pm, the heavens opened up and I watched from the leaky windows of my 100 year old house one of the largest storms I have seen. With thunder, lightning, and sheets of rain that fell like the hoses used in poorly made films, I had all but written off my trip to the park. If I couldn't see past my front steps because of rain.. the chances I would be able to observe birds was rare. However, just moments later, the rain let up and the sun began to shine through the clouds. Roofs were steaming and our windows filled with condensation. My roommates quickly urged, "Go now! Godspeed!" so, with an 80% chance of precipitation in the coming hour, I was off to my homeless abode in Ravenna Park. 

When I arrived at my site, big rain drops continued to fall from the towering Bigleaf Maples and everything in my site was, soaked, dripping, and soggy. Ravenna Creek that flows through my site was at an all-time high, running briskly through the woods and looking to have gained inches in a matter of minutes. The water was a chocolate brown, murky and even had waves. Normally I can see straight through the water, no more than six inches deep, today however, I couldn't even see my finger when I dunked it below the surface. 

When I got to my site, I immediately began looking for birds, knowing that this task would take the most of my time. I often don't have any luck when it comes to birds, and little know-how on how to approach and observe them. In a rare moment of brilliance, I saw three very small birds claiming territory of the bridge at my observation site, before I even set foot within my boundaries. At first glance, I assumed that within this flock of three birds were identical, however, one bird was distinct from the rest. My favorite bird to observe, the one most susceptible to my recordings, I believe to be a Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata) due to it's high-pitched, yet pleasing chuurr call that it unceasingly repeated during my time in the park. This chuurr also gives the clue into its personality and show me that the bird is territorial, defending its space or attractive females with its call. The Wrentit stayed very close to the ground, hopping and chirping along the bridge, mud and pathways, only flying so high as to land on branches that crossed the water to repeat it's song from a greater standpoint. It was all brown, slightly puffy, chubby and cute looking, with a thin bill and long, thin tail that was cocked the entire time. They are known to be found in dense shrubs, which is true of its return to covered sword fern thickets and within mossy, ground cover areas. Its wings flit very fast, becoming almost transparent as it would fly between the branches, reminiscent of a hummingbird, yet much larger in size.

I believe that this bird was defending its territory from the Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia). Although I regretfully did not hear the call of this small bird, it's characteristics tell me that the Song Sparrow, grayish-brown in color and found in shrubs, marshes, parks, and watersides is exactly what this is. Slightly smaller than the Wrentit, with a fairly long, pointed tail without pattern and more relaxed wing movements, the Song Sparrow also stayed close to the forest floor, hopping around and pecking at the mud throughout my observations. One of the Sparrows would get attacked every minute or so from the Wrentit, and seemed to be bullied out of the space. I tried to get a closer look in order to look for the dark brown spot on its chest, but was too large and loud (no matter how hard I tried), and scared them away.

As I was standing still, looking closely at the interactions of these birds, I saw a faint glimpse of a new species that hurriedly ran from Sword fern to Sword fern, caught only by my peripheral vision. I waited almost twenty minutes to catch another look at this illusive bird and was left unsatisfied. Though the coloring was similar to a Woodpecker, with bright reds, white, and blacks, I am going to identify this smaller bird, found only on the muddy, swampy floor to be a Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus). Found in thickets and forest underbrush in Western Washington, this bird has red eyes and is known to scratch on the ground under brush. I did not hear its call, nor see it's tail, but the distinctly bright red chest and white stripes near its black wings look familiar and promising. Also, I thought I saw two black stripes around the eye of the bird, which is not seen in the Spotted Towhee, showing that I could be wrong. 

A few other observations collected during my first individual 'birding' experience were less defined, yet still notable. I kept thinking that I saw a bird moving on the ground or within the brush, but time and time again this movement was only created from falling raindrops on the leaves. Along with calls that I am not experienced enough to identify, I could easily distinguish a number of crow calls, such as that from the American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos). This bird was calling and flying above the tops of the Bigleaf maples, much higher than the small birds I took a favor to observing. Also, as I sat as still as possible for upwards of ten minutes, I witnessed a small brown bird climbing its way up the trunk of a Grand fir (Abies grandis), pecking into the bark and looking for bugs. At any given moment, the bird would dive-bomb straight down, back into the ground cover on the forest floor. It was too far away for me to see any identifiable physical features without binoculars, and it made no calls during my observation. The last bird I witnessed was an American Robin (Turdus migratorius), flying gently from shrub to tree amidst Bigleaf Maples and Grand Firs.

I spotted the Spotted Towhee in the central dark space in this image,
running from Sword Fern to Sword Fern

The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) flew from the diagonal branch
in the top-left to center of this image, across Ravenna Creek and out of my site

Below are some pictures featured from my regular, weekly observations. A few notable differences were the change overall growth in greenery and shrubby species throughout the park. For example, my "Common Horsetail" was no longer so common and much larger than ever seen before. Some of the per-pubescent stalks even reached as high as my thighs, causing me to believe that they are rather the Giant Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia). I also found grasses among the horsetails and Skunk Cabbage that I had not seen before, and forgot the rhyme entirely at my time of need. Thank god for Google.

Enjoy!

Nurse Log hosting at least four different species

Western Sword Fern with wilted stalks

Western Sword Fern with stalks flattened and
weighed down by the torrential rain

GIANT Lady Ferns!

Size comparison of the Lady Ferns to my foot

Relatively low level and clarity of Ravenna Creek on a sunny day in Week 5

A rise in the water level and murky coloration of Ravenna Creek after heavy rain in Week 6

Lung Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) on a rainy day in Week 1

Lung Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) on a sunny day in Week 5

Lung Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) just after the rain in Week 6

Possibly the *not so common* Giant Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia),
much larger than 24" tall

Vine Maple (Acer circinatum), leaves are opposite and have
7-9 toothed lobes

Vine Maple (Acer circinatum), sprawling tree with vine-like branches
(not a Thimbleberry)

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) leaves are growing larger

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) with berries!

(Possibly) Common Velvetgrass (Holcus lanatus) found West of the Cascades

(Possibly) Common Velvetgrass (Holcus lanatus) with 4" panicles
"...Grasses have nodes that are easily found"

Indian Plum (Oemleria cerasiformis) with flowers!
1/2" in size, greenish-white, funnel shaped, grow in clusters

On my journey home, I found a collection of small, clay-fired figurines that someone has displayed outside of their home. 

Stay weird awesome, Seattle.