Natural Observation, Journal 1

Date: Sunday April 5

Time: 10:20 – 11:20 AM

Weather: Partly sunny

Temperature: 47 degrees

Location: Ravenna Park

Figure 1, my natural observation spot, an enormous erratic rock

Figure 2, what I could see by sitting on my natural spot (50 square meters scale)

I feel like this homework is awesome! Today, as this course requires, my friends and I went out to a natural area, which is the Ravenna Park. Located north to UW campus, this park is pretty convenient for us. Even though we didn’t take the short-cut, it only took us 15 minutes to get there. After going inside the park, we walked by the Ravenna Creek along the trail, trying to find our natural spots. I quickly found my spot, an enormous rock (someone told me it’s an erratic rock left behind by receding glaciers). So, I climbed on the rock and began my observation.

Song sparrow singing? I guess

Let me talk about animals first. Sitting on this big rock and closing my eyes, I could hear at least five different kinds of birds within my 50-square-meter scale. There were many song sparrows, at least two spotted towhees, lots of crows, some chickadees, and two bushtits. Even if I could hear their voice, I couldn’t see most of them. Also, besides the songs and calls from those birds, there were still others that I couldn’t identify. For example, I guessed a successive and loud voice was from an American robin. However, it was too different from its usual voice. After getting a general idea about bird species, I took out of my binocular to track a song sparrow (I wanted to see its black spot on its belly and listen to its song). It didn’t take me too long before I found it. However, since it turned its back to me, I couldn’t see its black spot. An excellent bird watcher once told me that the best way to identify a song sparrow is by its black spot. Finally, the song sparrow turned its face to me and began to sing. I’m so glad that I could not only see its black spot but also record its song. Before today, I had a hard time memorizing song sparrow’s song. Now, if I cannot remember what the tone is, I can simply check my recorder. The tune starts with two high-pitched sounds and a lower one next. Then, it starts to vibrate. What a beautiful song! Suddenly, I felt like some scraps of tree barks was falling down. I looked upwards. Wow! There is an eastern gray squirrel climbing down the tree! I guessed it was trying to find some food on the ground. This time, I took a wonderful picture of this cute creature. I also took many pictures of birds. However, since birds always perch very far from me, all of my pictures are pretty vague. So, I’m not going to show them here.

Figure 3, a cute eastern gray squirrel

The second part of my observation was about plants. I learned giant horsetail, western sword fern, and so on. However, for many plant species, I simply couldn’t identify them. For example, in my one-square-meter scale, there was a fern with greenish stalk and bi-pinnate fronds. According to field guide, the only one in this area that has those characteristics is bracken fern. So, I was guessing that it could be a bracken fern. However, the field guide also said that bracken fern’s fronds divide into three triangular, bi- or tri-pinnate leaflets. This part confused me a lot. I didn't quite understand what the triangular leaflets are. Also, the picture in the field guide didn’t seem like what I saw in the real world. So, I'm still not sure what kind of fern it is. I’m going to post some pictures about this fern and I need someone’s help.

Figure 4, the fern that I could not identify

Figure 5, the leaflets of that mythical fern

Figure 6, a giant horsetail

Figure 7, what is this?

This is really a great experience! Being outside and spending time with nature that we often overlook. It is not only a process to learn about those species around me but also a process to slow down my life and listen to the voice of nature.