Weather: Partly cloudy, moments after a torrential downpour
Temperature: ~60 degrees F
Time: 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: Ravenna Park
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| A repeat view of my site |
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.
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| I spotted the Spotted Towhee in the central dark space in this image, running from Sword Fern to Sword Fern |
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| 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!
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| Nurse Log hosting at least four different species |
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| Western Sword Fern with wilted stalks |
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| Western Sword Fern with stalks flattened and weighed down by the torrential rain |
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| GIANT Lady Ferns! |
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| Size comparison of the Lady Ferns to my foot |
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| Relatively low level and clarity of Ravenna Creek on a sunny day in Week 5 |
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| A rise in the water level and murky coloration of Ravenna Creek after heavy rain in Week 6 |
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| Lung Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) on a rainy day in Week 1 |
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| Lung Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) on a sunny day in Week 5 |
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| Lung Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) just after the rain in Week 6 |
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| Possibly the *not so common* Giant Horsetail (Equisetum telmateia), much larger than 24" tall |
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| Vine Maple (Acer circinatum), leaves are opposite and have 7-9 toothed lobes |
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| Vine Maple (Acer circinatum), sprawling tree with vine-like branches (not a Thimbleberry) |
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| Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) leaves are growing larger |
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| Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) with berries! |
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| (Possibly) Common Velvetgrass (Holcus lanatus) found West of the Cascades |
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| (Possibly) Common Velvetgrass (Holcus lanatus) with 4" panicles "...Grasses have nodes that are easily found" |
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| 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.
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