Week 4, April 29

Ravenna Park Observation
Wednesday, April 29
Sunny, 60 degrees

It was a clear and warm day. I went to my observation site after a rainy day from yesterday. Now everything is obviously taller and the leaves are growing bigger than the first week I came here. There are some new wildflowers that are blooming. I saw two raccoons climbing the trees near the upper hillside of the park, which was surprising and interesting.

I mostly focused on finding fungi and lichen in the park this week. I found this(shown blow) lichen growing on a tree trunk. I think it is a Hammered Shield lichen(Parmelia sulcata) which is a common lichen in the Ravenna Park. It is grayish/greenish, uneven egdes, and delicate.

This is a Oakmoss lichen( Evernia prunastri) that is growing on the tree trunk as well. It is a pale to greenish lichen, moss-like, and has soft tufts.

This is almost like a green paint on the tree bark. I have not identified this lichen.

This is a twig that I found has two lichens on one branch. It could be another Hammered Shield lichen and a Oakmoss lichen.

I found this growing on a big log on the ground. It has gray/ brown center, white edges, unstalked, and smooth surface. I was not sure about whether it is a mushroom or lichen. It might be a turkey tail because its rounded cup-like cap.

This is Artist fungus(Ganoderma applanatum) in the bracket family that I found on a dead tree. Dark brown at center, lighter brown at the edges. semicircular and convex cap.

I found this mushroom also on a piece of fallen wood that has moss grown on it too. It may be a honey mushroom because its convex cap, slender stalk. 

I walked to my original observational spot to see any changes. I can clearly notice that these horsetails are growing taller and bigger. Now I could identify some of the plants around my spot. I like the shape of the maple leaves. It becomes one of my favorite plants now!

Larger landscape of my original spot

Maple leaves

Week 3, April 22

Weekend field Trip to Olympic Peninsula
Saturday- Sunday, April 18-19.
Sunny

My expectations for this weekend field trip were not only just for learning new species, but also for getting to know other classmates since this is the only class that has the whole weekend field trip I have had in UW. We had a fun time just in our car. I also learned so much about phenology, plant ID, and animal ID.

While we hiked in the forest, there is plenty of evidence that shows it is a old-growth forest. I saw the evidence of competition between species tying to reach a higher position in order to get the sun light. Younger trees in the forest are struggling to survive with the limited sun light. We also spotted a nurse log, which was another evidence of old-growth forest. Evidence of mutualism in the forest we found was the moss grow on the tree. They can hold more water for these trees, and in turn trees provide the habitat for them. As we walked up to the Storm King Trail, you could see the difference in vegetation. I noticed more flowering ground cover plants closer to the river side of the trail. At the higher elevation, the trees have more branches since they can get more sun light. The soil seemed to be more dry and sandier as we hiked up. You can see the plants were more diverse near the river and the bottom of the hill, we saw all kinds of flowers, such as Trillium, Vanilla Leaf, and False Lily of the Valley, but there were fewer flowers when we reached the top of the hill. An interesting finding on our way of walking down was a banana slug! Our peer TA Kelly actually licked it.

Nurse Log

A mushroom we found during our exploration.

Trillium

A Banana Slug!

I was amazed by the stunning view at the Lake Crescent in the morning. I always like lakes more than sea, I guess it is because lakes are always seem more peaceful than sea. The picture definitely cannot show all the beauty of the Lake Crescent.

Lake Crescent

At the tidal pools we can see the evidence of predation. All the mussels onshore were empty shells. It could be the evidence of star fish predation. I saw two types of sea star, one was Pacific Blood Star, and the other one was Short-Spined Sea Star. Other interesting marine animals I found included Green Anemone,Pacific Littleneck Clam, and Pacific Goose Barnacle. The most exciting finding, of course, was the octopus. I have never seen an octopus in my life. I am bragging on this finding everywhere now.

A Pacific Littleneck Clam

Mussels

Green Anemone

A Pacific Blood Sea Star

An Octopus

My sketches:
The huge rock landed on the Salt Creek from glaciers.

A cone I picked up from the ground

A thumbnail I drew near the lake

A type of seaweed in one of the tidal pools.

Week 2, April 15 2015

Ravenna Park Observations
Wednesday Apr. 15
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Mostly Clear
50 degrees F

Seattle finally got this sunny, clear and beautiful day after two consecutive rainy days. Instead of going to Ravenna Park in the late afternoon, I chose to observe in the morning, which was a quite different experience. It was a little chilly when first I arrived there but then getting warmer as it close to noon. I heard many bird were singing in the trees, but sadly I couldn't identify any. There are not many significant changes for plants at my site. However, I did notice some more species this week, and I was able to identify more plants. I noticed the 5 square meters scale are more grassy than last week. I noted a Scouring Rush on the ground last week, but I found out there are more Giant Horsetails than Scouring Rush in this area. They are about 10 inches long, and the stalks have many little branches growing out. I noticed these Giant Horsetails tend to grow along the streamside. The picture is shown below:

Giant Horsetail

In addition to that, I was able to identify Skunk Cabbage near the creek. It has yellow flower, giant green ovate leaves. I was wondering why it called skunk cabbage because I did not smell the skunk odor when I was observing. However, I researched a little after I got back, and it says that it emits the skunky odor when it blooms. "This odor will permeate the area where the plant grows, and can be detected even in old, dried specimens" (iNaturalist). I sketched this plant for the excise because it is the most distinctive flowering plant at my site.

Skunk Cabbage

Lady Fern is another species that I missed last week. I was able to identify it for its curvy,  and tapered ends:

Lady Fern

Another fern family plant I noticed was Western Sword Fern, however I was not entirely sure about it. The reason I identified it as a western sword fern was because the sword-like leaves, tapered at both ends.

Western Sword Fern 

Here are some pictures of the plants that I still could not identify:

Heart shaped, light green, three pedals. 

Usually comes with 5 or 7 leaves. 

The picture of a larger landscape:

Field Sketching Exercise:
I chose to draw Skunk Cabbage.

Memory Sketch:

Contour Sketch:

Gesture Sketch: (5s,30s)

Diagrammatic Sketch:

Pencil Line Sketch:

Study Drawing:

Four other plant sketches:

Week 1, April 7 2015

Ravenna Park Observations

Tuesday April 7

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Cloudy

Growing up in China, one of the best memories for me as a kid to escape from the busy schoolwork and have some fresh air was to go on hikes with my family. I have always loved going out into the nature, and getting touch with animals that we were not able to see in the city. I remembered one of my favorite mountains we often went on hikes was called Tianlong Mountain. I liked it because it is not only a site for experiencing the natural environment, but also a historical site for grottoes that can date back to 1500 years ago.

I have been on several road trips in the US for the last couple of years.  They brought me a more dynamic understanding of what is the nature, what is the relationship between nature and human, and why do we even go on trips to explore the nature. The nature should not be just the peaceful scenery, we should also appreciate the dangerous and unpredictable part of the nature. I have been to Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Grand Canyon, and Yosemite National Park. The variety of animals and plants impressed me the most. We saw elks, bisons, eagles, and even three bears walked by us. For me, being able to see the nature in these national parks give me the reasons to protect the natural environment, and realize that we are just one part of the nature because everything is so subtle and unimportant comparing to the massive nature. While I was standing on the one side of Grand Canyon, I kept thinking what kind of intense geological movement made it into today’s topography, and then all of the anxieties that from the city were not existed anymore, only amazed by the nature.

In terms of the class, I am looking forward to identifying more species at the end of this class, going on the field trips, getting to know more peers during the trips, as well as knowing more about the formation of different types of geography.

My observation spot was in Ravenna Park. It is a ravine that possessed old-growth timber.  Ravenna Creek locates at the west side of the ravine alone Brooklyn Avenue NE. The Cowen Park Bridge crosses the park from north to south on 15^th Avenue. I observed an area that was between the stream and a trail, under the bridge. The image below is of the larger landscape of the spot:

On the ground, there is grass, ivy, and maple within the 5 square meter scale. Some plants that I am able to identify are Vine Maple in the Maple Family and Scouring Rush. It seems like all the trees and shrubs were just sprouting new leaves in terms of the color of the plants. Vine Maple is shown below:

Another interesting plant that I found of a 5 square meter scale, and also all over the ground in the park was Scouring Rush in the Horsetail Family:

Some of the species that I couldn’t identify within the 5 square meters are:

I have such limited knowledge of identifying trees, here is the picture I took around the 50 square meter area:

An interesting finding on a lot of the trees. I am not sure about what is it, but I am guessing that is the fungus: 

I could hear that there were many birds singing in the trees, but I did not see one. The only animal I observed was a squirrel. I am sure there are many other insects on the ground too.