Natural Observation, Journal 4

Date: Monday April 27

Time: 1:00 to 3:30 PM

Weather: partly sunny
Temperature: 72 degrees

Location: Ravenna Park

Figure 1, back to my natural spot, everything is a lot greener

Figure 2, leaves of Indian plum

Since the last weekend we went to Olympic National Park, I didn't have a chance to come to my natural spot. So, when I got here this weekend, it changed noticeably after two weeks. By just looking at it, everything is a lot greener and taller. For example, those lady ferns (Atherium filix-femina), identified by its small-big-small boy pattern just like a lady, has grown denser and wider. They now covered much more water surface than before. Also, I found something that I'd taken for granted before. Standing right behind me, this tree-like shrub had elliptical leaves without any teeth on their edges. I felt like our professor taught us what that was in Thursday's class, but I just couldn't figure it out. It confused me all the time until I found some clue in my notes. According to my notes, I crushed those leaves. If it turned out that they had some cucumber-like smell, this plant would be an Indian plum (Oemleria cerasiformis). It was by crushing leaves and smelling that I found out it was an Indian plum. There were something growing and there were certainly someting withering. For example, the previously blooming skunk cabbages (Lysichoton americanum) now lost their yellow flowers. Now, there were only pieces of huge leaves and a withed greenish flower. All those yellow parts were gone. As shown below, there was a good example to illustrate this withering situation for this type of plants.

Figure 3, withered skunk cabbage

Figure 4, a closer look of that withered skunk cabbage

When I was concentrating on the skunk cabbage, chickadees flew close to my natural spot. I looked up and found there were actually four of them, all were black-capped chickadees. They all seemed pretty happy since they sang all the time. Also, they were jumping on the branches of a western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), higher and higher until I could barely see them. Finally, I couldn't only hear chick-dee-dee-dee.

Figure 5, a tiny mushroom growing on a leaf

Figure 6, another look at this tiny mushroom

Now, since our homework was about finding six different types mushrooms, lichens, and mosses in total, I need to shift the topic to them. Before I found my first target, I'd been searching for one hour and I couldn't find anything similar to those three types of plants. It seemed like mushrooms, lichens, and mosses all like growing near the water. When I was about to give up, a tiny mushroom drew my attention. Amazingly, when I tried to find out how it connected to the soil, it turned out that the mushroom was actually not connected to the soil. It was connected to an almost dead leaf! How could that be? Since I could identify what this mushroom is, I will describe it briefly: convex and smooth cap with white surface, brownish black gills, no distinct ring, slender stalk. Also, it had some liquid at the end of its stalk. That part was originally connected to an almost dead leaf until I disconnected them. I hope someone could help me to identify this one.

Figure 7, an artist's conk on a Douglas fir

This is the second fungus I found. It was just stuck in the trunk as it always does. Since its characteristic is distinct, it didn't take me very long to find what it's called in my field guide. Artist's conks always have a flat cap. Instead of gills on the underside of its cap, it has a smooth and white plate-like thing that people can draw pictures on. As shown in my picture above, the white underside is just like the white edge in this picture. What an amazing fungus!

Figure 8, an unknown lichen

I found a lichen when I was 50 feet from my spot. At first look, I thought it would be lettuce lichen since I watched a video about lettuce lichen the night before and they bore some resemblance. Since I'd already mistaken leaves for lettuce lichens before, I had to take a careful look at it before making conclusion. I was trying to find some clues of leaves but it didn't have any. It didn't have veins or twigs. Also, even if it'd been a piece of dead leaf, its color shouldn't have been like this. So, I concluded that it was not just a normal piece of leaf. So, what was it? I wanted to say a lettuce lichen but the shape and color were so different that I couldn't really identify.

Figure 9, another lichen I couldn't identify

This is another lichen I couldn't tell. At first, I thought it was just some tree barks. However, after using my hands to actually touch it, I found that this one was much crisp and brittle than tree barks. When I tried to break a tree bark, I needed to use a great amount of strength. For this lichen, all I needed to do was just pinching it. Then, it broken into parts. As for identification, I really couldn't find any clues.

Figure 10, a different lichen

This one bears an resemblance with Bull's-eye lichen. However, if you look at it carefully, it's definitely not a bull's eye lichen. First, the bull's eye lichen has a brown growth in center. On contrary, this lichen doesn't have that brown part. Second, for bull's eye lichen, there will be some tan or green spots between the brown central growth and its edge. However, this one doesn't have any spots on it. Third, on the one hand, the bull's eye lichen has scalloped edge around it. On the other hand, this lichen has rugged edge around. I'm pretty sure that this one is some kind of lichen but I can't identify it.

Figure 11, Icicle moss? My guess

Even if I spent two hours, I could only find 5 different types of fungi and lichens. So, the last one isn't any fungi or lichen. It's a moss. Specifically, I think it's icicle moss. I found it on a small bigleaf maple. Even though it was messed up, it was shiny and green.

After I finished my tasks, a female mallard duck drew my attention. I wondered why she was here since my spot is pretty deep into Ravenna park. Mallards don't usually show up in some place like this. More curiously, she was by herself! I couldn't find her companion. So, I followed her to see what she was up to. When I got closer, I saw the blue wing patch on her right side. I was expecting such pretty thing to belong to male only and it turned out I was wrong. After a while, she stopped at the creek and began to drink incessantly. It was lucky that I could take a video of her drinking. She wasn't afraid of me at all.

Not only did I take a video of that female mallard, but I also took a video of a yellow-faced bumble bee, which I'd never seen before (maybe I had, but I just took for granted). When I saw it, it looked like it was digging a hole and looking for something by digging a hole. When I saw its yellow face and its yellow bands at its hip, I really could tell what it was. It was a beautify creature! I was pretty happy that I could see it.

There is also something which I'm not sure what it is.

Figure 12, what is it? Growing fungus?