You are in for a real treat! Thank you for visiting my walking tour. It makes me very happy that you will be exploring one of my favorite places in nature in Seattle! Just remember to be curious, be observant, and be kind to the nature your explore. Have fun!
“The earth has music for those who listen.”
Getting to Discovery Park:
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| Figure 1. Biking/driving directions to Discovery Park from the University of Washington |
Map of Discovery Park:
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Figure 2. Map of Discovery Park
Wolf Tree Nature Trail in blue |
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Map of Wolf Tree Nature Trail:
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| Figure 3. Wolf Tree Nature Trail with 10 stations labeled |
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My walking tour will consist of 10 stations (Figure 3). These stations consist of plants, animals, and ecological interactions that are super interesting to me and important to the ecosystem!
The 10 stations, in order will include:
1. Land Use
2. Birds
3. Fungi
4. My Favorite Spot
5. Ecological Disturbance
6. Invert
7. Animal Behavior
8. Ecological Interaction
9. Plant
10. Geology
Once you enter Discovery Park, you will be overwhelmed with forest. It is like entering another time or place away from the busy city of Seattle. I've come to anticipate the moment when I drive through the park entrance, the moment you become surrounded by green and tall trees. It's a truly wonderful feeling.
1. Land Use*
To reach the Nature Wolf Tree Trail where I've been making my phonological observations you'll want to follow the park signs to the North Parking Lot. The North Parking Lot is a large, narrow, strip of meadow and concrete. This area looks very unnatural with two forested areas on either side. This land looks unnatural, because it has been altered by humans. In fact, the entire park has been influenced and changed by human activity. 4,200 years ago the land was lived on by native people of the Pacific Northwest. When settlers arrived in the 1850s, they logged the land and intended to use it privately. The land was used as an army fort for training and transport of military personnel. In 1972, it was officially stated that the land would be used as an open space in Seattle and would be called "Discovery Park". The building that was once an infirmary now became the park's visiting center and environmental education as well as restoration efforts shaped this land back into a forested area to be enjoyed by the public. The North Parking Lot and the adjacent meadow are signs of the land's military past. This specific stretch of land was once the rifle range for army members in training. It sure is crazy to stand in the parking lot and imagine bullets flying back and forth!
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| View from the North Parking Lot into the meadow |
2. Birds!
Follow the path on the right side of the meadow from the parking lot and you will see the trail head for the Wolf Tree Nature Trail on your right. Follow this path down a small hill and shortly you will come across the trail sign. Welcome to my site!
At this sign, you'll want to take a right to come to the first station on my walking tour. Follow this path as it curves to the right and then curves to the left to reach the spot where I had the pleasure of observing two barred owls! 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. At this spot I was looking over the open area to the left from the higher ground the trail is on and from the tree right above me I saw two huge flapping wings (Figure 4)! The Barred Owl landed in a branch about 100 m straight to the left of the trail. The second seemed to fly form the same origin as the first and landed in a tree about 100 m straight in front of the trail ahead of me (Figure 5). I had heard owls throughout the season at this location but had not yet had the pleasure of spotting them to I.D. them properly. Their nests must have been close by. Both owls had brown/tan bodies with white vertical bar patterns on their breast and stomach. White and tan spots covered their heads and framed their face. Their faces were brown, their beaks yellow, and their eyes large and black. 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. 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 look straight into an owls eyes and have its full attention, it made me realize that the animals I have been observing are just as curious about me and could be watching me all the time, even when I don't know they're there!
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| Figure 5. |
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| Figure 4. |
3. Fungi
After searching for Barred Owls, I'd like to take you to see some beautiful works of art; Artist's Conk. Keep following the path down until you reach the first bridge that crosses over the stream. Directly to the right is a fallen log that has broken into two pieces adjacent to the bridge (Figure 6). And on these logs are at least 11 Artist's Conk fungi. They are beautiful and look so delicate as they hold on to the logs as if giving them little hugs. Each Artist's Conk is a half circle shape against the log with a brown/tan circular pattern on top (Figure 7) and a white puffy underside (Figure 8).
I have an interesting tidbit for you! Some artists actually make art with Artist's Conk as their canvas. The underside is hard enough to scratch and artists carve this surface to make designs such as the Elk scene created by artist Suzie Thaller below in Figure 9.
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| Figure 6. Logs to the right of the bridge |
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| Figure 7. Top view of Artist's Conk on away-side of log |
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| Figure 8. Underside of Artist's Conk |
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| 3 Artist's Conks in a row on first log |
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| Artist's Conk where trunk broke in two |
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| Close up of second log |
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Figure 9. Suzie Thaller Artist's Conk art
http://www.suziethaller.com/projects.html |
4. Ecological Disturbance
Now continue on the path, up the stairs, around a few bends and you will see a giant Western Red Cedar (red bark, scaly green leaves) on the left of the trail. Directly across the trail form this tree on the right you will see evidence of positive ecological disturbance. Do you spot a tall-standing snag with scratches and holes. A snag is a dead tree that is still standing which provides wonderful habitat for birds and insects. These scratches and holes were created by a Pileated Woodpecker! These woodpeckers pick apart snags in search of grub as food. Unfortunately I was not able to see a Pileated Woodpecker during my time at here but this trail provides great habitat for them and many visitors do have the pleasure of seeing this beautiful bird.
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| Pileated Woodpecker* |
5. My Favorite Spot
Next I would like to take you to my favorite spot on the trail; my sit spot! This is the spot I visited regularly throughout Spring Quarter to observe seasonal changes.
on your left you will see a cluster of Red Alder trees (gray bark, light green ovate and toothed leaves), a bunch of Salmonberry (shrub with red/brown thorny stems, green leaves, pink flowers or red berries), and a ground covering of Wood Sorrel (large green clover-like plants). I enjoy this spot so much because of these three main plant species that are so abundant all in one place. To put a cherry on top of this aesthetically beautiful station, its an edible station too! Salmonberry flowers and then turns into berries that are edible when they are a deep red color. Although it is fun to forage and eat these berries right off of the plant, I must admit they are pretty sour and bitter. Wood Sorrel on the other hand is sour and sweet! A surprising delicious treat! However, Wood Sorrel can be toxin in large amounts so if you'd like to try a bit, I suggest tearing off one leaf to savor. No need to press our luck with toxic plants! Keep in mind, there is a always a risk when eating new foods because of unknown allergies.
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| Cluster of Red Alder |
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| Ripening Salmonberry surrounded by its leaves |
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| Ground cover of Wood Sorrel |
6. Invert
Now, if you crawl through the Salmonberry bushes on the left until you reach a fallen log then you may come across the spider, order Araneae, that I spotted in week 5 of my phenological observations. It was quietly perched on a Red Alder seed that had fallen from the nearby tree and was draped on a Salmonberry stem. This insect has eight legs which led me to its identification as a spider. Its legs and outer rim of its body are tan in color. The center body pieces are an orang/tan color - very cool coloring! The body was about 1 cm in length and including the legs, its length was about 1 inch. I was very proud of myself for being able to observe this insect with a calm mind. In the past I have struggled with arachnophobia (fear of spiders) but I have been trying to conquer this fear. I was able to stand calmly and observe its movements and I am thrilled with my progress. I was able to enjoy and study this individual organism and I gained a certain appreciation for it once I had finished observing it, almost like I had overcome an indifference and became acquaintances with an old enemy.
7. Animal Behavior
Carefully make your way back to the trail and continue in the same direction. When you reach the point where the trail curves around to the left, pause for a moment. Straight ahead on the trail is where I observed an Eastern Gray Squirrel in week 8 of my phenological observations. I had been admiring the Western Bleedingheart on the right of the trail when I heard a rustling in the trees above. I looked up and this squirrel stopped right in its tracks on a branch and stared directly at me, without moving a muscle. I hadn't done anything to startle it, I was just standing there. But the poor thing was terrified! It began an alarm call and just stood there petrified and looking at me. The call was very peculiar though. It sounded like a long "Meowwwwwwww" with an upward pitch slide. I stood and watched this squirrel as it repeated its call for about 30 seconds until I decided to put it out of its misery and leave it in peace. I walked the other direction on the trail and the called slowly faded.
8. Ecological Interaction
Something beautiful is occurring at my site in the form of an ecological interaction! Continue on the trail until you reach a small wooden walkway. This is probably my second favorite area of the Nature Wolf Tree trail because of the interwoven arching trees over the trail. When I first saw this interaction on week 1, I couldn't understand the details of the species interaction tangled in this archway. However, now I am able to identify the trees involved and see how they grow together and around one another. Here a Western Hemlock is growing on top of a nurse stump! A nurse stump is a tree stump that now serves as a base of another growing organism. The new plant's roots grow into or around the stump and gain nutrients from it. So cool! The Western Hemlock branches into two trunks one in which grows vertically and the other grows horizontally across the trail and against a large Red Alder on the other side of the trail. The Red Alder has a vibrant orange crustose lichen covering its trunk and grows diagonally over the trail as well. This structure creates a tunnel like covering over the trail and is a beautiful interaction to witness between the large nurse stump and the thriving Western Hemlock. In the figure below, you can see how the roots of the Hemlock intricately wrap around the existing stump and make their way into the soil. It is difficult to identify the tree that is now the stump. Surrounding this interaction is lady fern in the understory and moss on the trunks of the Western Hemlock.
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| View of arch from the direction you came from |
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| View of roots wrapping around the nurse stump |
9. Plant
Another iconic station at my site is this Skunk Cabbage "field," as I like to call it. It is hard to miss. Continue along the trail for about 3 minutes. On your right and left you will begin to see huge leafed plants (with large yellow flowers in April) surrounding the stream. The stream keeps the soil dense and moist and Skunk Cabbage thrives in this area. Mixed in are also Giant Horsetail and Red Alder. All three of these plants are able to grow in poor soil so their presence indicates that this soil is lacking some vital nutrients that would foster greater vegetation diversity otherwise. This area also brings a strong yet fowl smell on hot spring days as the skunk cabbage releases the skunk-like scent it was named for. At this time in the season, the large yellow flowers have come and gone and all that remains are the oversized cabbage-like leaves. These large leaves, along with the giant horsetail make me feel like I am in prehistoric times in this area of my site. Lady fern also grows in the mix of these plants. Although skunk cabbage is so fragrant, I can't help but wonder what it tastes like! Our class field guide doesn't mention whether this plant is edible but I still wonder!
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| Close up of Skunk Cabbage leaves |
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| View of Skunk Cabbage "field" |
10. Geology*
As you continue along the trail back to the trailhead, I'd like you to reflect on the geological history of this area so you can understand what has shaped this land over time. 20,000 years ago glaciers covered the Puget Sound area. We're not talking little tiny glaciers here. These glaciers were higher than 5 Space Needles combined! Along the coast of the park, there is evidence in the shoreline bluff sediment of glacial layering. At the West Point Archeological site in the park there is evidence of a 9.0 Richter Scale earthquake and tsunami that occurred about 1,100 years ago. These types of geologic occurrences remind me that the amount of time humans have spent on Earth is very small in comparison to the long and powerful processes that have occurred over the lifespan of our planet. These processes have changed and shape the land we see today and will continue to bring changes in the future. I wonder what Discovery Park will look like in 1,000 more years.
Thank you for embarking on this journey through my site with me. I hope you enjoyed your time outside breathing in fresh forested air, hearing beautiful birds, and seeing plenty of green plants. I encourage you to visit again and start developing your own special memories with nature like I have at the Wolf Tree Nature Trail. Until next time!
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