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Week 3

Wednesday April 17
7:30-8:30 PM
Cloudy, rain seems imminent
60 degrees

TO SEE MY PLANT SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS, WHICH WERE ASSIGNED FOR THIS WEEK, GO TO "FIELD GUIDE TO THE PLANTS" TAB. BELOW ARE MY NORMAL WEEKLY PHENOLOGICAL DESCRIPTIONS:
The first thing I noticed as I walked into my observation spot today was that last week's mostly brown and green forest floor, was now plashed with yellow. I could see immediately that the flowers which had festooned the big-leaf maple trees last week, were now dropping out of the canopy like leaves in the fall. The strong winds and rain we had had earlier in the week probably also contributed to their demise.
Everywhere I looked, the flower clusters littered the ground. In one spot below my feet, I found 9 flower clusters in a square meter!

Big-leaf maple flowers littering the forest floor.

Looking up at the canopy, the big-leaf maple leaves are really beginning to expand into the size they were named for. There is already a lot less light reaching the forest floor. Surprisingly, some individual trees seem to leaf out earlier than others. I wonder why that is. Is the one that's leafing out now, taller and therefore accessing more direct sunlight?

Big-leaf maple leafing out.

The red-flowering currant next to my observation spot is starting to lose its flowers. That is, they are kind of drying up and starting to produce currants! You can already see the hairiness of the outside of the fruit that will persist even as they ripen later in the summer.

Red-flowering currant flowers this week.

Same red-flowering currant on week 1!

Is it just me, or do the skunk cabbage leaves seem to be getting bigger and leafier? I'm going to post a photo from this week and one from my first week as comparison.

Skunk cabbage week 3.

Skunk cabbage week 1.

With the big-leaf maple leaves beginning to fill out the canopy, flowering herbs on the forest floor are already peaking or going dormant. The Trillium are developing  a purple hue in their petals as they move towards dormancy. The Erythronium lily is now in its prime, further opened from last week. The yellow and purple violets I observed in the first week of the quarter are now completely gone, save for their leaves.

Trillium petals starting to turn purple as they decline for the season.

Erythronium lily in its full glory. How long will it last?

As is always the case so far, every time I come here, I notice something I hadn't noticed before. Right at my feet is a Saskatoon berry sapling (Amelanchier genus). Did I just notice it this week because it has leaves and is flowering now? I'm not sure. Saskatoon leaves are oval in shape with toothed edges--not as sharply toothed as say hazel nut, which has much bigger leaves this week than last. Saskatoon leaves also form rounded lobes near the petiole. The margins are entire closer to the base of the leaf. There are also young bracken ferns at my feet. How did I miss these last week? I need to go back and look at previous week's photos to see if they weren't there or if I just overlooked them [I just looked at my old photos. They were there and I missed them, or didn't write about them anyway]. I also seem to have overlooked snowberry at my site. It is fairly common in the understory, although not as common as the Indian plum which I have reported on previously.

Saskatoon (Amelanchier)

You might have noticed that this is my first post in the evening. The bird sounds were very different in the evening. Absent were the cries of the bald eagles. I did not even see these birds at all. But loud and conspicuous were the songs of Bewick's wrens, which I had hear before, but which had been overshadowed by the songs of so many other things. There were probably about 3 males singing back and forth to each other from separate territories in this part of the woods. Also singing in the area were song sparrows and a winter wren. Pine siskins and red breasted nuthatches passed through briefly and quietly too. But mainly the stage was dominated by the Bewick's wren this evening.

Under the plants tab, I will begin developing descriptions of plants at my site. You need to do 8 for this week in your journal. You might want to choose some that we have gone over in class, as preparation for your test coming up.

Here's the 1 sq. meter area below my feet. Look at how it has changed from week 1. I think I may have identified the unknown plant that is coming up in the plot (the one with the maple flower at its base here). I think it is goat's beard (Aruncus dioicus). We'll see as it gets bigger in the next few weeks.

TO SEE MY SPECIES DESCRIPTIONS, WHICH WERE ASSIGNED FOR THIS WEEK, GO TO "FIELD GUIDE TO THE PLANTS" TAB.  

Week 2

Friday April12
9-11 AM
Partly Sunny, 50 degrees (had to wear gloves for writing today!)
Light Breeze

First off, let me say that I'm very impressed with everyone's blogs. I will be giving you some feedback very soon.

Now I'll start my blog post for this week: (YOU SHOULD ALWAYS START WITH SOME BASIC OBSERVATIONS OF WHAT'S GOING ON, ESPECIALLY WHAT'S DIFFERENT FROM WEEK TO WEEK.)
Once again it was a fantastic diversion from my regular routine to get out to my observation spot in Madrona Woods. I continue to be amazed by how many new things I keep seeing in this place that I thought I already knew well. I noticed a mountain ash today that I hadn't noticed before. These trees are supposed to be in the mountains, but seem to grow well in the lowlands. Perhaps it was planted here? I had a similar experience in Ravenna Park yesterday where I noticed a western white pine for the first time in a place that I had walked by many times. Just goes to show that good natural history needs to be done at slow speeds. In Madrona woods I also noticed for the first time how abundant thimbleberry is in the understory there. Perhaps it didn't have leaves before, but I noticed the big maple-like leaves today. As I walked to my observation spot, the chestnut backed and black-capped chickadees were busy foraging in the canopy, calling to each other frequently. This is one of the most common sounds of the forest around here. But as I walked I suddenly noticed a distinct change in their voices. I can't describe exactly what it was. Maybe they went from an idle "chatter" of contact calls, to alarm calls, or more "earnest" or coordinated calling of some sort. But as I noticed this change, I looked up and also saw the flock become more unified. I could hear some of the "dee" notes being emphasized in their call (used as a predator alarm call), and I sensed that they must have detected a predator. Sure enough, a sharp-shinned hawk shot through the canopy, clearly on a hunting mission for small birds. The chickadees seek safety in their flocks, and clearly they had all alerted to the predator way before I had. Eventually the resident crows caught onto the hawk and started harassing it, chasing it out of the park. As I got to my spot, I couldn't help but notice that the big-leaf maple leaves are getting bigger. The big-leaf maple flowers are starting to drop off the trees and litter the forest floor, and occasionally drape themselves over hazelnut twigs. The skunk cabbage leaves are bigger, but the skunk cabbage flowers are getting less yellow and are passed their prime. Bleeding heart is starting to bloom, as is Erythronium, while last week's white Trillium are already starting to turn purple as they retire again for another year. There is still plenty of light reaching the forest floor though, so we will have some "spring emphemeral" flowers for at least another week or two I think. The Indian plum flowers are shriveled on the north facing slope of the ravine, and completely dropped off on the south facing slope. The licorice ferns that were dried and shriveled last week have perked up again with all the rain we've had. I noticed a few new species of birds this week which I'll list in iNaturalist, but I noticed that American robins were again active at my site. I saw a clump of skunk cabbage rustling, and I noticed a robin down in the mud. I thought it was feeding, but in fact it was gathering mud and wet leaves in its mouth. It suddenly took off with a mouthful to a private spot up the hillside where it is likely building its mud nest. I hope to look for this in the future. Finally, the eagles are still here. As I sat making my observations, I was suddenly interrupted by their haunting cry, and I spied the two adults sitting together in the top of a Douglas fir. It is possible the eagles were calling to a juvenile male, that flew into this fringes of the park near the lake, to let it know that the site is occupied. In any case, the pair moved around the park, as I worked, and eventually flew back through the canopy and into the top of another tall tree near their nest. I've pasted in some photos at the end, but I want to move to the main part of the assignment.

Today's exercise is a drawing exercise. I was surprised at how it forced me to get into a zone of concentration and observation--I quickly lost track of time, and I must have been very still and quiet, because I was often surprised by birds that would pop up right in front of me as I worked. I was also surprised at what a poor observer I actually am! Wow, I need to pay more attention to details--I'm relatively good at identifying species, but there are so many other aspects to these species that I must completely ignore as I identify them and move on. As shocking and time consuming as it was to do this exercise, I can't think of any better way to really intimately get to know nature. For my first set of sketches, I spent a good 30 minutes with a hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) twig, that had unfurling leaves, closed and partway open leaf buds, and a dormant flower bud (from the female flower). I'm going to paste in my sketches here:

Memory sketches are a great way to test your ability to look carefully at details. The contour sketches are pretty funny looking, but sometimes it is better to keep looking an organism while you can before it moves away from you.

Here are my gesture sketches of the same Corylus cornuta branch.

 I'm pretty happy with my study drawing of Corylus cornuta. I don't have as much patience for drawing as I should, but it seemed like this one was not going to get much better with more time. Still, I have a much better feel for the nuances of this species now.

Study Drawing of Corylus cornuta.

 In my one meter square area, a species unknown to me has sprouted this week. I think it might be a baby baneberry, but I don't know. We'll see. I also drew a nearby sword fern with fiddleheads (an unfurling new frond). I had never looked carefully at a fiddlehead before and I was surprised to see the unfurling leaflets too. Looking closely at an adult frond, which can last for a year or 2, I confirmed that leaflets come off of the main frond or compound leaf in an alternate fashion.

 I also did a quick study of a fallen big-leaf maple twig, noting the placement of flowers and new leaves on the stem. With maples, branches and leaves are opposite. There must have been at least 30 flowers on the flower stalk, and they all had stamen and anthers protruding from the petals.

 Finally, my prize of the day: A pileated woodpecker. There is a pileated woodpecker log behind my observation spot, on the ground, and I knew it would be a matter of time before I saw one of these birds. They likely have favorite feeding trees, and probably roam around across several parks in their homerange. This one moved from tree to tree very deliberately, leaning back off the tree, cocking its head to the side to listen for grubs, and moving on if it didn't hear any. I did a quick gesture sketch of this bird on a madrone tree in front of me. Pileateds are our largest extant species of woodpecker in North America. Notice the large claws, the crested head, and how it props itself against the tree trunk with its stiff tail feathers. The crest is bright red, and I noticed stark black and white flashes in the body plumage. A large bird with some commanding good-looks!

A repeat photo of my spot, looking out toward the lake.

A repeat view of the skunk cabbage in the ravine.

A repeat photo of my 1 m square area, with the unknown plant that came up this week.

I love how the big-leaf maple flowers end up draped over the hazelnut twigs!

Here is the pileated woodpecker log behind my observation spot. These big birds are not afraid to forage near the ground. Look at the big chunks of wood they've pried off, and the rectangular holes in the log. Characteristic of the pileated.

Dicentra sp., bleeding heart

Erythronium sp. (fawn lily?) The seeds of this plant are in part dispersed by ants!

My formative experiences in nature

I was lucky enough to get introduced to nature at a young age by my grandfather in particular. My grandfather was a doctor, but I think his real interest was in the biology of the natural world, more than the biology of people. I used to visit him at his house on a mountainside in rural Vermont in the summer and winter. Because he lived on an old farm, there was a lot of land to tend to. I traipsed around behind him clearing brush with a sickle and scythe, pruning trees, and all the while discovering nature as I went. My grandfather was a great teacher and he would show me how to identify some of the plants we were clearing, or how to tell when apples from the apple tree were ripe, and so on. His real passion though was for butterflies, and when we were done working we'd head into his meadow and look for Monarch Butterfly caterpillars on Milkweed plants. We'd then put the caterpillars in jars with a bunch of leaves and watch them grow over the course of days and weeks until they one day spun their silk cocoons. I would take the cocoons home with me and watch the Monarch wings slowly show through the sides of the cocoon until one day a full grown butterfly would squeeze out, and I'd get to let it go, away on its journey south to Mexico. Needless to say, this hooked me on insects as a kid.

[I want to post a picture of my grandfather (now deceased) here.]

Growing up in Maryland, I was surrounded by the most amazing insects at our suburban house just outside of Washington, DC. During the hot humid summers there, cicadas would whine all night long and huge moths and katydids would come to the windows at night. I put together large insect collections in shoe boxes, and brought them to school to show my sometimes grossed out peers. My interest in nature waned a bit as I became a teenager, and I didn't know that one could have a career in natural history. I was still aware of my interest in natural history, however, and I once skipped school to spend a day at my favorite natural area along the Potomac River in Maryland. This place was my refuge in high school, where I could get away from everything and have some peace in nature. The river flooded every year, and giant sycamore trees would loosen from the banks, and start leaning out over the water. You could climb their trunks and watch the big muddy river slide by below you. I saw many bird species for the first time ever along that river, and got to know some of the amazing tree species that grow in the southeast U.S. It wasn't until college that I had the good fortune of taking a botany class, and getting hired to survey plants all summer long for two summers. Suddenly plants became my way of knowing the land. I learned hundreds of species in western Massachusetts and knew where they all grew, and the story each species can tell you about the underlying soil, the micro climate, and past land-use history of the site. It was here that I began to learn what ecologists do and that there are legitimate careers to be had in nature observation! As part of my botany class, I developed a field guide to a section of woods that I observed for the semester. Eventually I was hired by the owners of the woods to lead tours of their property for the public. Regardless of the career opportunities, a life long passion for nature and sharing nature with others, had been kindled. Nature is the lens through which I get to know new places, and by which I deepen my connection with home.

Week 1

PLEASE ALWAYS PUT THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION AT THE TOP OF YOUR BLOG POST:
Date: Wednesday April 3, 2013
Weather: Partly cloudy with sun breaking through clouds
Temperature: ~60 degrees F
Time: 9AM-10AM
Location: Madrona Woods

WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT SPECIES IN YOUR POST, PUT THE SPECIES NAME IN BOLD AS I'VE DONE HERE:

My observation site for the quarter is in the center of Madrona Woods, the small woodland park a few blocks from my house in the Central District of Seattle. As little as 15 years ago it was completely overrun with invasive species, but concerned residents of the neighborhood have slowly been removing invasives, planting natives, and restoring the woods to a high quality native habitat!

Here's a view of my site looking out towards Lake Washington. I'm sure the canopy will fill in here, hiding this view later in the quarter.

What an amazing day to be out! It was sunny and warm, and the forest was alive with the sounds of birds. I am so grateful to be "forced" to take this time out of my busy day to just have some quality time in nature. For as often as I pass by these woods, or come through on runs, I thought I knew the woods pretty well. But now being required to stop and look closely, I was astounded at what I had never seen before here.

I should back up though. Let me describe the overall habitat at my observation site: I saw 3 very large Douglas fir trees that extended far above the canopy and were at least 1 meter in diameter. Additionally, there was a large Western Hemlock that was of similar size. These were all in a 50 meter sq. area around me. The subcanopy layer of the forest was dominated by deciduous trees that don't have their leaves yet. Looking carefully, I could see tiny leaves starting to come out on one of the trees, and I discovered it was a Bigleaf Maple. The maple was also adorned with gorgeous drooping clusters of small yellow/green flowers. The understory at my site is very shrubby and is dominated by Indian Plum and Hazelnut. Both of these species flowered a few weeks ago, but the Indian Plum still had some dried up flowers on it, particularly on the cooler, wetter North side of a small ravine that runs through my site.  [Note: If you don't know the names of your species, try to look them up, or post some sketches or photos of them with your descriptions--you will for sure figure out what they are later in the next few weeks when we start learning plants.] Looking at the ground around me, I noticed that it was matted with dry leaves from last fall. I didn't dig down into the soil, but I would like to in the future. I noticed some native blackberries starting to push through from under the leaves. I'm excited to see how the ground cover changes at a small scale at my site over the next few weeks.

Let me now tell you about this little ravine. Because it is a ravine, it is moist at the bottom, and growing there is a beautiful little grove of Skunk Cabbage in full bloom. I went down into the ravine to sniff the pungent smell of the leaves, a smell I associate with spring in the Northwest. Growing next to the Skunk Cabbage was a cluster of yellow flowers that looked like they were in the Butter Cup Family. I look forward to looking these up, but for now will post some pictures. One of the things I've found, is that at this time of year when there are no leaves on the trees, there is a lot of light coming to the forest floor. Many flowering herbs and shrubs take advantage of this light, but these flowers will be gone as soon as the canopy fills in in the next few weeks. For example, I noticed several bunches of the giant white-flowered Trillium or Wake Robin. These are a classic "Spring Ephemeral" which I suspect will retreat back into their dormant root stage when the canopy fills in. I also found a purple Violet and a white Violet, both of which I'll need to look up. And Oxalis was also in full bloom. One of my favorite spring wildflowers, the Bleeding Heart, was just starting to poke up out of the ground. I look forward to checking on all of these in the coming weeks. My most exciting moment looking at flowers was having an Anna's Hummingbird fly in right in front of me to suck nectar from the hanging flowers of a Purple Flowering Currant (Ribes genus).

This is that Currant I mentioned, that the Anna's Hummingbird came to!

I love the flowers on Bigleaf Maple, and look how tiny the leaves are right now!

OK, now to my most exciting finds! Since I really enjoy birds, I can't help but pay attention to the many songs and movements around me. When I arrived at my spot, I heard a loud crying noise from the top of one of the big conifers at my site. I thought maybe a gull at first, since Madrona Woods is close to Lake Washington lake shore and I've often seen gulls in the park. I figured out that there were actually two birds calling to each other with this strange cry, and then I saw a Bald Eagle fly across the canopy and land next to its mate. Before I knew it, they were mating, before one flew off to a dead tree to crack off a giant stick which it flew with in its talons to another tree. Running through the forest, I followed it until it landed and discovered that this pair is building a giant nest in the top of a big Douglas fir tree at my site! Yes, spring is in the air and this is going to be a very fun 10 weeks of observation. Other notable birds, were a flock of Chestnut Backed Chickadees. These are northwest forest specialists and are not as common as the Black Capped Chickadees around the houses in the neighborhood. The first time I'd seen them in Madrona Woods! I'll add the rest of my bird sightings for today to iNaturalist, but I should finish by noting two species I saw for the first time in the neighborhood this year. Townsend's Warblers are migrating through now from their winter homes in Mexico and Guatemala, as are Orange Crowned Warblers (this is nearly a month earlier than the first ones I saw in the neighborhood last year!)! And I saw my first Violet Green Swallows of the year in the neighborhood today (they have been around elsewhere, but are coming back in larger numbers now). Exciting. Spring is well under way and there are going to be great transitions to observe over the next few weeks!

Tiny leaves on this Hazelnut tree. These will grow larger.

Here's a closeup of my spot at a small scale. A few trailing blackberries poking through the leaf litter. Looking forward to seeing this view change in a few weeks.

Love this violet. Need to ID it. Will it last when the canopy fills in and shades its light?

The Trillium, a true "spring ephemeral." How long before it disappears and goes dormant for another year?

Wow! These horsetails (next to Skunk Cabbage) are amazing. They will grow bigger I'm sure.

Indian Plum flowers are drying out now. A few weeks late for them.

Some of the tall conifers on my site (Douglas firs). The eagles are building a nest in another conifer further back.

Skunk Cabbage. What an amazing plant! How long will these flowers last?

Another view of the ravine at my site. Will repeat this photo later for sure.

Need to ID these pretty Buttercup family flowers. Perhaps I can edit this caption later.