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.