Journal for ENVIR 280 in Ravenna Park: Natural Observation, Journal 6

Date: Monday May 11

Time: 3:40 to 4:40 PM

Weather: cloudy

Temperature: 59 degrees

Location: Ravenna Park

Figure 1, my natural spot is much more vibrant right now

Figure 2, horsetails have grown much bigger and taller than before

Figure 3, a horsetail is snapped for some reason, thus unable to compete with others any more

Figure 4, those skunk cabbages have totally lost their flowers

I hadn't been to my natural spot for two weeks until today. When I got here, I noticed this tremendous change in color, number, and size. I went back to the photo of week 1 and I was shocked. Is this the same place that I kept going for 6 weeks? First, color, this place much greener than it was before. More and more plants are still growing up. I'm super excited for what I would end up seeing at the end of this quarter. Second, number, there are numerous sword ferns, lady ferns, and salmonberries than before. I could only find two or three salmonberries on the first day I began my natural observation. Also, the creek between those ferns and shrubs was much wider several weeks ago since there were not a lot of plants back then, not enough to block the creek. However, the creek is narrower right now. I wonder if I can still see the creek after this quarter. Maybe these plants will grow so tall that I won't be able to see the creek but hear the trickling water. Finally, there are a lot of changes in terms of plants' size, both increase and decrease. For example, in figure 2, those horsetails are now much bigger and taller than before. When I first saw them, without know what they are, I could see them sparsely distributed. Right now, they are much denser and taller, creating this huge horsetail crowd! However, some horsetail might be a loser in this game of growth. As shown in Figure 3, this horsetail is snapped in the middle of its stem for some reason. Thus, it lost this competition. Another example demonstrating change in size is skunk cabbage. For now, as shown in figure 4, those skunk cabbages totally have totally lost their year flowering part. Instead, they start to wilt

Video 1, Stellar's jay fluffing its body feather

Now, it's time for today's main topic, which is birding. Since birds are normally perching high up into the canopy and moving all the time, it is hard to take photos of them. So, I only took videos today. Alright, the first bird I saw is my favorite bird ever. It was a Steller's jay. I still remember my first day of birding. It was this bird that drew my interest into bird-watching. At that time, I was able to feed it with some peanuts. However, today was the first time seeing a Steller's jay in the field. I didn't see it before I heard it. When that extremely harsh crow-like call suddenly came in, I knew it was going to be a Stellar's jay. So, I followed the call and tried to track the bird. It didn't take me so long to find it in the bushes right above the creek. It seemed like drinking some water from the creek. Even though he was in the messy bushes of horsetails, salmonberries, and ferns, I could still see its beautiful black crest and those blue stripes on its forehead. Suddenly, it stopped drinking water and began to fluff its feather fiercely. Then, it jumped into the creek! I have never seen a Stellar's jay in the water. What exactly is it doing? Is it taking a shower? When I was trying to figure out its seemingly odd behavior, it flew away and perched on a red alder tree. I guess I might have made too much noise when I approached it. Shortly, it flew away again. However, this time, I couldn't see it at all. My guess would be that it flew right into the canopy layer of this forest. I could barely see him flying on the top of a big leaf maple, but I couldn't describe him anymore. This bird is so volatile!

Video 2, a song sparrow

The second bird that I spent a lot of time with was a song sparrow. I had known this bird before I took this class. However, this quarter was when I started learning detailed information about this bird. Before I saw it, I heard its call first, the distinct three loud voice followed by a series of trills. So, I began to track this bird. It didn't take me so long to find it, singing loudly on a branch of a vine maple 7 feet above the ground. After perching there and singing for two or three minutes, it flew away to nowhere. Even though I couldn't see it anymore, I did notice how it flew. From what I could remember, Instead of being a long and rectangular, its tail was rounded when it flew. Or I could say it was wider than its usual form. Also, during its flight, it flapped its wings in a fast rate and thus made noticeable voice. Since I completely lost it, I decided to play a game with it by pretending to be a invader. I took my smartphone out of my pockets and played the song sparrow call. My professor told us that song sparrows are territorial, meaning that they will defend their territory when they find invaders. Right after I started playing my faked song sparrow's song, it flew back to me. This time, it appeared much more aggressive. It was doing a wing-waving movement and sang like chi, chi, chi. Also, it was restless, flying all around me. Since we were so close, I was able to see many black streaks converging into a dark spots on its breast. Also, it was close enough for me to see its white streaks on its head.

Other birds I saw were three American crows perching on some bigleaf maples' branches twenty feet above the ground. I heard them singing first. By hearing their songs, I really learned how to tell a jay from a crow by just listening. Jays' voice is more harsh than crows. For those three crows, they didn't do much except using their feet to grab their necks and using their beak to pruning their feathers. As for interaction between them, they didn't do something that was obviously related to each other. All they were just perching there for five minutes until suddenly they all flew away. I guess that they might have heard some predators' calls. I didn't hear something at the time when they flew away. However, I didn't see any birds around us. If there was one, it must have been above the canopy. Also, I was wondering who is going to prey on crows. Finally, there was one thing that I noticed, it seemed like one of them later was holding some branches by its mouth. It was flying over to somewhere. I thought it would use those materials to build a nest for its children, but I couldn't test my hypothesis since it was flew to nowhere before I finished packing and started to chase it.