Sunday May 26, 2017

Clear skies, ~75 degrees Fahrenheit, extremely low tide.


Summer is fully among us here in Seattle, and it is evident in not only the weather and vegetation but the amount of people in the park as well. 
Some Scot's Broom, which although invasive, is quite beautiful.

The trails less traveled that I usually take have become obstacle courses of nettles, shrubs, and mostly the invasive Himalayan blackberry. The thick of the trees, shrubs, and plants completely obscure the view of the Puget Sound that earlier in the quarter clearly glimmered through the branches. Now that we are tasked with finding at least 50 species in/around our sites, I actually took the time to meticulously look through my field guides for hours when I saw something that I couldn’t put a name to. Most of the new species I named had been here all along, but of course they are now in bloom and more apparent. I identified grass-like plant that I have been frustrated by the whole quarter as a Cleaver, or more specifically, Catchweed Bedstraw. 
False Solomon's-Seal!

I recognized three blooming flowers as False Solomon’s Seal, Herb-Robert, and Baldhip Rose. 

I determined one plant to be a Holly, and although it lacked the red berries I think It was and English Holly. I witnessed mostly song sparrows and crows today, and just a few of them due to the larger amount of people in the park. Compared to other weeks, the park-goers were particularly loud and obnoxious, some of them clearly disrespecting the land they were there to appreciate, treating it like their own domain. On the beach, I saw a Red Tailed Hawk soaring with incessant pressure to stop from crows. Also, I saw a Northern Alligator Lizard on the bluff, along with a good amount of Ladybugs.
Lil' Lizard

 The tide was a record low today, although during its minimum I was in the forest taking notes so I missed the best part. Aside from the new growth, most of which was noticeable in the smaller plants and shrubs near the ground, the only stark difference from before was the amount of mosquitoes. I was wearing a tank top and hadn’t bought bug spray yet, so I was constantly being bitten and had to evacuate earlier than I’d have liked to. It’s worth all the pollination they do I suppose, especially with the decline of bees and other species that preform this action so integral to our ecosystems.

Panorama of the Bluff, West Point, and the Olympics


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