Week 8

Date: Sunday, June 1, 2014
Time: 6:15 pm - 8:00 pm
Weather: Sunny and hot
Temperature: ~75 F
Location: Wolf Nature Tree Trail - Discovery Park

Hello fellow natural historians,
My site is becoming more and more of a comfortable place for me as I can now identify many plants and bird calls and I know my way around the site. Yet, I still find something new and excited every time I visit. That's the wonderful thing about nature, it's always growing and changing! This week I observed phenological changes at my sit spot and I studied a couple of birds… Enjoy!

Phenology

Once again as I walked toward my sit spot along the Wolf Tree Nature Trail, I was taken aback by the change in greenery since I was last here. Of course, I walked right past the point on the trail where I crawl through the Salmonberry to sit on the log because of these seasonal changes. I had to turn around and look for other clues like the leaning Red Alders, the Douglas Fir, and the floor of Wood Sorrel I always admire. Once I found the spot, I almost dreaded the process of getting to the log because the Salmonberry had grown so much. I could see the faint trail I always take to reach the log. I knew I would come out of this with twigs and insects in my hair and Salmonberry thorn scratches on my arms and legs. But I had to sacrifice my personal comfort for the sake of my sit spot log observations and repeat picture (Figure 1).

Figure 1. View from sit spot log

View from trail to my sit spot

The wood sorrel covering the forest floor around the Salmonberry is thick and abundant (Figure 2)! I learned that Wood Sorrel leaves are non-toxic in very small amounts so I tried a leaf. The taste is sour! It was pleasantly delicious and I wanted to eat more but I had to stop myself because I didn't know the extent of the toxin's powers. The forest floor was soft and dry today.

Figure 2. Wood Sorrel

It has been an interesting process to slowly gain plant ID knowledge as my time at Discovery has increased. Over the last couple of months I have seen this particular plant and not known what it was. I have drawn detailed pictures of it to understand its organization, leaf patter, color, veins and it wasn't until this visit that I had an epiphany. This is Red Elderberry (Figure 3)! Something I had been introduced to several weeks ago but wasn't able to connect the dots until today. This was a great accomplishment in my learning process and I was very proud of myself. I spotted at least 10 Red Elderberry saplings today. They are very green, green stems, green leaves, and green berries. The leaves are opposite and pinnately compound.

Figure 3. Red Elderberry

The Sword Fern surprised me on this visit. It has grown taller than I expected and some plants are not 3-4 ft tall (Figure 4). I saw several Sword Ferns that were drying and turning brown. Has their peak green season come to an end so soon?

Figure 4. Sword Fern

There are still dangling Red Alder seeds around my sits spot (Figure 5). I like to think that they are just hoping for a strong wind or a bird to knock them down onto the ground so they can perform their job of growing into a new Red Alder tree. 

Figure 5. Draped Red Alder tree seeds

The moment I have been waiting for all season has finally arrived (Figure 7)! The Salmonberry berries are here! Although they aren't completely ripe (deep red color) yet, I couldn't contain my excitement and I ate them anyways. They were very sour, as expected from premature berries. Before the berries reach maturity they are salmon colored (Figure 6). The Salmonberry bushes now tower over me at least 1 foot. It sure is an obstacle course to get back to my sit spot log! Another thing I noticed about the Salmonberry is that the leaves and stems are woven with spider webs.

Figure 6. Ripening Salmonberry

Figure 7. Ripening Salmonberry!

The canopy above is thick and green (Figure 8). I can only see slivers of blue sky peaking through. I see Big Leaf Maple leaves, Red Alder leaves, Douglas Fir needles, and Western Red Cedar leaves all dancing in the breeze above me in the canopy.

Figure 8. View looking up at canopy

Birds

All of my previous trips to Discovery Park have been earlier in the day. I purposefully came in the evening today because I know that is when birds are most actively feeding. I was pleasantly surprised to hear way more birds than I usually do. Although I heard so many birds, I had a very difficult time spotting them with my eyes. I spent 45 minutes standing quietly at different spots along the trail in hopes of seeing a bird rustling through the bushes or flying overhead so I could track where they land and study them up close.

Finally! I tracked down a Song Sparrow that seemed to think I was following it (…I was) and was trying to sing in peace. But I was quiet and persistent and I finally got a glimpse of the bird singing. I saw it perched in a Salmonberry branch. It's body is smaller than an American Robin and larger than a Bushtit. It is brown with tan markings on its underside. The song sounds like "Bee-bee-bzz-beetle-beetle-beetle" and while it sang it had a forward posture and put its beak up into the air. Its throat quickly moved in and out as a vibration movement. Then I heard a similar song from the other side of the forest. A call and response! Once the Song Sparrow felt uncomfortable with my staring it quickly flew into a thick of bushes and continued with some quiet "peep-peep" sounds. 

Song Sparrow sketch

As I continued down the trail, walking as quietly as possible as not to spook any nearby birds, I heard  rustling in the understory ahead of me. My heart fluttered with fear because this was a reminder that although I was along on the trail, you are never truly along in nature. I slowly walked closer to see what it was and an American Robin ran out of the bushes and onto the trail in front of me. It quickly flew to a tree branch. This bird has a brown/gray head and body with a red breast and a white eye circle. It's song sounds like "Cheerily, Cheer-up!" however this Robin was not singing. It just continued to perch in an Elderberry branch and stared directly at me in silence. I am noticing that the birds and animals here are use to humans quickly and loudly passing through the trail but when I sit quietly and observe them they seem alarmed. I watched this Robin sit in the tree for 8 minutes and decided that it was going to stay like that for a while so I moved on. 

American Robin sketch

Because I had observed two birds, I decided to call it a night and head back to the parking lot. As I walked up one of the last stretches of trail, I heard a flapping sound and from directly above me saw two huge flapping wings fly into the tree about 100 m from me. An owl!!! I had never seen one in the wild before! I had heard them all season at my sight but had accepted the fact that I would probably never see one for myself. I rummaged in my bag for my binoculars and feasted my eyes on this majestic bird. The owl was facing me so I could see its white and brown vertical bar pattern on its stomach. I saw its large round black eyes, yellow beak, and white/tan spots framing its brown face. A Barred Owl for sure (Figure 9). Now, although I am morally conflicted by the presence of barred owls in spotted owl territory of the Pacific Northwest, I couldn't help but feel excited to see my first owl in the wild! They were beautiful, stoic birds. 

Figure 9. Barred Owl 1

Then, as I was admiring the Barred Owl I heard large flapping sounds overhead again. A second Barred Owl! What a pleasure! And to think, I was about to leave for the evening and miss such a wonderful site! The second owl seemed to fly form the same origin as the first and landed in a tree about 100 m from the first. I have heard that Barred Owls mate for life, maybe these two are mates and their nest is close by. The second owl had the same physical features as the first but as slightly bigger in size. This was possibly the female because females tend to be bigger than males. The second owl had its back facing me so I got a good look of its rear plumage which was tan/brown with white horizontal spot patterns (Figure 10). As I was drawing these birds in my field notebook for later reference, I dropped my notebook on the ground and the loud slap rang through the forest. Immediately in response to the sound, the second owl whipped its head a full 180 degrees to look directly at me. It was terrifying! Not only was it scary to look straight into an owls eyes and have its full attention, it made me realize that the animals I have been observing at Discovery Park are just as curious about me and could be watching me all the time, even when I don't know they're there!

Figure 10. Barred Owl 2

Well I would  call this a very successful nature visit to my site. Sadly, next week's journal entry will be my last. Until then!