Final Reflections

Date: June 12, 2014

Time: 12:00-2:00

Weather: Party Cloudy

Temperature: 65 degrees

Part 1. Phenological Observations

I started the day around the CUH. I saw a couple Bullock's Orioles hopping around and then saw this wonderful sight: 

I found two fledgling American Robins who were about to be fed worms by their parents. I crept into the bushes and took this photo, and I don't think these babies could fly yet because they just looked at me and weren't reacting other than calling out in short barks. There were two adult Robins that had worms in their mouths and visibly upset, Their crowns were fluffed up and they were making what seemed to me warning calls high in the trees. I left the babies alone after this, and gave them some space. The babies were really cute though, and had mottled, dull colors compared to the adult and their feathers were all puffed up. From here, I went around the backside of the CUH and saw a Song Sparrow eating all the good Salmonberries before I could get them. 

A Bombus vosnesenskii on a Nootka rose. Buzz pollination in action! This bee was buzzing in a circular motion around the middle part of the flower as a way to seemingly pile up the pollen in the pollen sacs on the legs. This bee was moving very rapidly from flower to flower, and seemed to be very efficient with its pollination. Go bumblebee!

Some kind of bee on a Mock Orange flower- I think its a Leaf Cutter. It was much smaller than the bumblebee, with a clearly striped back and a curved body.

The Tule (Scirpus acutus) is now over 3 m! I could not believe how towering this sedge was. I can see how the tule grows in colonies- due to the rhizomatic root system. 

Shoveler's Pond in summertime (above) vs early spring (below). What a difference!

Before, it was actually a pond. Now, in summer it is just a swampy marsh! Sedges, grasses, and rushes are growing throughout the swamp and the water is probably no more than 6 inches deep. In the early spring, its most frequent visitors were waterfowl- today I saw mostly odonata and savannah sparrows. With the change of seasons comes a change of habitat, and new species to host. 

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) in full bloom near the prairie mounds. The blooms seemed to be taking up most of the energy of the plant, because the leaves were shriveled and pale. The priority at this point must be pollination! 

Unknown flower on the prairie mounds- any ideas? 

Cow Vetch flowers- I'm guessing these are buzz pollinated? An invasive species native to Asia and Europe. As a legume, it is a nitrogen fixer through bacterial nodes in the root. 

Some asteraceae? Seems to me like a giant daisy "wishie" 

These bees must be busy- there are so many flowers to pollinate! Although this plant is invasive, Himalayan Blackberry flowers provides a huge source of pollen for bees around here.

White Morning Glory (Calystegia sepium) also invasive

Before and After: My Site in summer (above) and in early spring (below). This pond has entirely dried up (I walked across it today)- there isn't even mud. To consider that it was a huge pond before! 

Other Observations: 
I saw a lot of insects today- primarily Bombus, Monarchs, tons of Odonata. I saw a hummingbird flying straight up into the air, and then dive bombing down. I saw some Savannah sparrows flying low out of a patch of Tule, a Bewick's Wren in a shrub around the marsh, and I had a special moment with a Common Yellowthroat. I could hear the "whitchity whitchity whitchity" from the cattails near the trail and crept up into the grasses. The Common Yellowthroat was probably a few feet away from me but totally invisible- I think it was low in the grass. I really wanted to see a Yellowthroat up close so I did a song playback- And out of nowhere, I see the bandit! The little yellow bird hopped up on a high branch and looked at me accusingly. He seemed visibly alarmed, so I turned off the playback and for a second longer, got to look at the beautiful Yellowthroat.  

Part 2: Three Poems

1.
I hear soft rustles, 
see swirling light,
as a silver-speck cascade
caresses the wind. 


2.
I settle into tall bunches of green
you are whistling, chortling

suddenly out of the din
a slight body, splash of yellow

and a curved black mask
we look at one another

with equal curiosity. 


3. 

a cluck, a pinch, 
a buzzy trill, 

a jagged chortle,
a throaty humm,

she skips a beat,
then again  

a cacophony.




Inspiration: 1) Cottonwoods 2) Common Yellow throat 3) Savannah Sparrow! 

Part 3: Reflections

1) How has your perception of your observation site changed through the quarter?

Its amazing that once you start noticing the abrupt changing that comes with the seasons, it startles you how rapid and dramatic the changes are. In the early spring, when I first started making my natural history observations, I forgot what the UBNA looks like in the summer even though I had been there before. I was shocked by how much the landscape changed. I’ve started paying attention to the insects, birds, and plants, and a new world has opened up to me- especially with birds. I’ve come to find that I love birdwatching! There is so much detail and complexity that I missed before. Certain calls are now becoming familiar, and I now recognize some forms that I never noticed before. I get a lot of joy out of running into a Bullock’s Oriole on campus, on seeing a Downy Woodpecker on a Cottonwood at Greenlake, and watching a flash of yellow and see it turn into a American Goldfinch.

I also love all the work we did around sketching. I’ve become more interested in making biologically accurate sketches. I’ve always sketched for fun but it is great to add a level of intention- and recordkeeping. I want to continue to keep a natural history sketchbook.

2) How has your sense of the Puget Sound Region changed through the quarter?

This class has reminded me and reinforced what an incredibly diverse and beautiful place we live in within the Puget Sound Region. I can appreciate the natural environment in new, exciting way. I am still pretty new to Washington (I’ve lived here for 4 years) and there is still so much to explore. I first started realizing the depth of the natural beauty around me when I started mountaineering last year. Yet, even on these trips I feel that I missed a lot of the complexity and diversity of the life because I couldn’t recognize what plants and animals I was seeing. I have improved my observation skills in this class and I am looking forwards to more opportunities to be outside so that I can expand these skills. We have learned many new lenses for looking in depth at the natural environment- through thinking about its geology, its flora, and its fauna.

3) What does it mean to intimately know a natural place?

Knowing the names of the birds, insects, fungus, plants, etc around me makes me feel more grounded in my environment. It makes me feel like there are always familiar faces in the woods around me. It also makes me more excited to explore the outdoors because I want to find animals and plants I have never seen before. Especially with birds, I want to greater understand their behavior, their migrations, their clever adaptations to the world around them. The world is a more exciting and beautiful place when you pay attention to the birds.