Natural Observation, Journal 2

Date: Sunday April 12

Time: 09:20 - 10:20 AM

Weather: Clouds and sun, a little windy

Temperature: 49 degrees

Location: Ravenna Park

Figure 1, what I saw at my natural observation spot today

Today, I came back to my natural spot which I'm going to come back again and again over this quarter. I was expected it to change dramatically from last time. However, I didn't find the overwhelming change I expected. Nevertheless, after putting this picture above and the previous one together, changes became more obvious to me. Since last time I focused more on birds, this time I focused more on plants.

First, compared with the previous picture, this one is much greener. More and more ferns have grown up from the soil. Those pre-existing ones is now taller than before. Still, I can't name the other fern besides sword fern, but considering that I will be able to identify all of those plants, I feel pretty excited.

Figure 2, a small salmonberry flower coming out (I guess it is salmonberry but I'm not sure)

Second, when I was looking at the big picture, I noticed some pinkish or reddish tiny spots were among those plants. Those are flowers! They are about to bloom! After getting close enough to one flower, I could observe its detail and try to identify it by its leaves. The first thing I noticed about it was its thorny stems. I remember my homestay Nancy told me that usually those thorny stems means rose family. So, I turned my field guide to rose family. Based on the color of the flower, the only one alike is salmonberry. Also, each flower with five petals is the characteristic of salmonberry. As for its leaves, they are all fined-toothed like what being said in the field guide. 

Figure 3, I didn't even notice this guy when I was observing the salmonberry. When I saw it, I was scared

Figure 4, a growing fern

Finally, as I delved into pieces of detail in this park, I found the way how ferns grow, just like figure 4 above. In this picture, its top is first curled. So do its fronds. Then, as it grows, stems become taller and fronds become longer. Eventually, the top part of its stem will no longer be curled and its fronds will be flattened. When I first saw this, I thought it was some new plant species. However, every time I saw this type of plant, it was with other ferns. After carefully observing its leaflets, I believed that it was a growing fern. I also took a picture with growing fern and matured fern altogether.

Figure 5, same ferns at different life steps.

Figure 6, when I packed up and got ready to leave, I saw a bunch of horsetails.

Alright, it is time to shift the topic to birds. It was super weird that there was not a lot of birds singing. Even there were, they were at the top of those big evergreen trees. I couldn't observe them. Maybe they knew that I wanted to watch plants this time. So, they hided. The only birds I saw were an American crow and a black-capped chickadee. By hearing its chick-dee-dee-dee, I almost took a picture of that tiny bird. However, right before I pressed the button, it flew away to nowhere with some chick-chick sounds. So, I couldn't observe it for a good amount of time to learn what exactly it was doing. However, my guess was that it was trying to find some seeds to eat.

Figure 7, a yellow leaf and this new part coming out of a living skunk cabbage

Second journal is over. I have already noticed some changes in my natural spots. I am looking forward to see more and more changes as the quarter goes. I might not be able to recognize my own spot after this quarter.

Here come nine of my field drawings. I am really really bad at drawing but I tried my best.

3 - 8

Horsetail

A stem of a lady fern

Skunk cabbage