Birds.

This last weekend we visited the Nisqually Delta and Paradise on Mount Rainier.
At the Nisqually Delta we observed a lot of birds and their behavior.

The Birds we saw:

• Yellow Warbler
• Swallow (2-3 species flying overhead)
• Sharp-shinned Hawk (overhead with the Swallows)
• Brown-headed Cow Bird - female and male
• Wilson's Warbler
• Canada Geese
• Cinnamon Teal
• American Robin
• Song Sparrow
• Red-Winged Black Bird- two males fighting over territory
• Mallards
• European Starling
• Bald Eagle
• Northern Shoveler
• Cliff Swallow
• Tree Swallow
• Violet-green Swallow
• Northern Pintail Duck
• Common Yellow throat
• Gold Finch
• Savannah Sparrow
• Coot
• Dowitcher
• Wilson's Phaleropes
• Yellow Leg
• Green-winged Teal
• Blue Grouse
• Raven

I closely observed the bald eagle, the Cow bird, and the Dowitcher.

The bald eagle we spotted was perched upon the tallest tree in the area. We put the scope on him and could see so closely that we could see his eye. It was amazing to see all the detail of this huge bird. It was obviously a juvenile because it did not have the white cap that is distinctive of Bald Eagles. After looking at the bird for a few minutes he took to flight and swooped around. He then disappeared off into the distance.

The cow birds were at first in a female and male pair pecking at the ground, but then another male came over and joined them. He began pecking along side the pair. Then the original bird flared up and spread his wings and ran toward the other male. Then they both casually went back to pecking. After awhile, the original male repeated the aggressive act. This cycle continued for awhile until the new male began to fight back and show the same display of aggression. It seemed like no one really one because eventually the female just flew away and ignored them all.

The Dowitcher was very interesting. We went bird watching at a pond on the Nisqually Delta and at the very front of the pond closest to us there was a group of about eight pecking into the water with their long bills searching for food. Our teacher told us that it was very unique to see the birds this close and in such a large group. They were very interesting birds that almost looked like Kiwis or Dodo birds. They had long legs that lifted their bodies above the water and long bills that dug deep into the water and could reach the bottom. They had light brown bodies that were a little strangely shaped.

BUGS!!

May 6, 2013 3:30 pm
Discovery Park (North side)
87 degree day (much cooler under the canopy), no clouds

This week was about insects. While this is not my favorite topic (they give me the creepy crawlies) trying to find bugs in my area was a great adventure. However, only one of my pictures came out clear and all the rest are blurry.
The first bug that I encountered was well... dead. This made it very nice to observe its physical features... and not so nice to observe its behavior. The insect was huge. He was a little less than an inch in length with 3 pairs of very long legs. When I saw him his legs were crossed, so it was difficult to see what they looked like in detail. The reason I first spotted the bug was because of a big yellow dot on its back. The body type led me to believe that it was part of the Hymenoptera, it looked like some type of wasp in particular. However, the long antennae through me for a loop. I don't think I have ever seen a bee with such long ones and they look very Lepidoptera-like to me.




















The next insect I encountered was a bubble bee, also part of the Hymenoptera. It seems crazy that such a big bug can fly around so easily. Bumble bees don't seem very aerodynamic. At first this giant ball of black and yellow fluff was flying from plant to plat (probably pollinating and getting some food). But then, something very strange happened. As I was following him throughout the woods, it landed on some dirt and began to dig into it. I thought maybe there could have been a nest there, but there didn't seem to be an opening for one. After observing the bumble bee digging for awhile, he just flew away.

Many other bees (not able to identify) were buzzing around and pollinating the many different plants in my area. They would nestle themselves up into the plant for awhile and then move onto the next plant to continue its job. After buzzing around a small area for a little bit they would fly away either back to their nest or to their next destination of plants. I stumbled upon a bee hive (thank goodness I didn't actually stumble upon it) that was inside a log. I saw a few bees buzzing around it and saw one of the bees go inside of it.

As I walked along the trail, there were spider webs everywhere. These bugs are Arachnids. They were in small plants, in the nooks and crannies of trees, pretty much anywhere they could find a spot. Some webs were organized, like the typical web you think of, and some were disorganized. When the webs were inspected further, I could see that the spider was hiding in the back, staying very still, waiting for any prey to get caught in their trap. There were many different sizes and colors of spiders. Mostly I saw small black spiders in the webs I saw along the trail. Some spiders either were hidden so well that I couldn't find them or they had abandoned their web for a better location.

I found a large bug crawling along the leaves of a plant. It was pretty big (1/4 inch) and it had a light green body with brownish spotty wings. I tried to capture pictures of it for several minutes, but my subject was unwilling to pose and continued its crawling ways going from the top of the leaf to the bottom and back. Even when I offered it a stick to sit on, it did not want to pose and instead decided I was his next target of crawling, so I put him back on his leaf. I did some internet research and it seems to be a true bug or part of the order Insecta. The internet identified it as Banasa dimidiata.

After searching the woods for about an hour or so, I saw a meadow below me and thought that it would be the perfect location to find different kinds of bugs than I was seeing in the woods. At first it was hard to locate any bugs at all because they were all hiding in the tall grass in the meadow, but once I decided to search through the Scotch Broom I knew I would have more luck. Bees were abundant there, more pollination. Some beetles (Coleoptera) were hanging out on the leaves. On one flower I found three different species of bugs. At first I spotted the flower because of the Lady bug that was hanging out on the stem near the flower. Its bright right wings caught my attention immediately. Then upon further inspection, I found an Earwig (Dermaptera) inside of the flower. Its hind end with what look like pincers was sticking out of the side of the flower and its antennae were sticking out the other end of the flower.  It seemed to be about a half inch in length and was a brown-red color. Then below the flower was a greyish white spider that was bigger than the spiders I had been seeing in the woods. I didn't get a great look at it because I don't think he wanted to be found by me.

Total bugs I observed:

• Weird Hymenoptera 1
• Hymenoptera 2 - Bumble bee
• Hymenoptera 3- Variety of bees
• Arachnid 1 - small black
• Arachnid 2- bigger and greyish white
• Insecta 1- Banasa dimidiate
• Coleoptera 1- small black
• Coleoptera 2- bigger also black
• Dermaptera
• Lepidoptera 1- small white butterfly?
• Lepidoptera 2- small brown moth?
• Diptera 1 - black fly (house fly?)
• Diptera 2- Gnats

Weekend Field Trip

This past weekend our class went on a field trip to the Olympic National Park. We stayed at NatureBridge on Lake Crescent and explored the forest there. We also took a drive to explore the tide pools on Sunday as well. It was a beautiful place and we unexpectedly had very nice (sprinkling a little) weather that made the trip even better. My favorite part was the short hike to Marymere Falls. Any chance I can get to see a waterfall I will take.














Before we went on the trip Bob Paine visited our class and gave a talk on predation, disturbance, competition, and facilitation. We witnessed a lot of these things on our field trip in both the forest and in the tide pools.
In the Olympic National Forest:
Competition

• Western Hemlocks will wait for years for Douglas Firs to fall down in order to take over



Really Big Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)

• In a large old growth forest filled with a variety of plants and animals, there will always be a competition for resources between different species and between organisms of the same species.

• These mushrooms and moss are competing for the space available on this fallen log

Facilitation

• Dragon Skin Lichen- Fungi and algae together
• Fix nitrogen and then fall from the trees and decompose and become part of the soil

• Bacteria in the roots of trees fix nitrogen in exchange for nutrients- Can link many trees together



Moss Covering the bark of a Big Leaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)

• Moss lives on the bark of trees
• Good and bad for the tree

Disturbances

• Logging
• Logging left stumps behind
• Logging roads destroy a section of forest
• The Beginning of succession has begun on the logging road we found. Ferns, grasses, and other small shrubs have begun to grow on it





This tree fell across Barnes Creek and the root mass was quickly
utilized by Elder Berry, Bleeding Heart, and Salmonberry.

• Trees falling down can take other trees with them and destroy some shrubs underneath them, but once they are on the forest floor they are utilized as nurse logs and many species of plants thrive off of them

• Fires are a natural occurrence in forests. Some trees are built to withstand them, but fires can clear a pretty substantial space in forests 

  

  This tree's inside dead wood was burnt by a fire and even though the
  tree is hollow at the bottom, this tree is still surviving

• Dead wood that falls into streams and rivers can disrupt the flow of the river. However, it was discovered that dead wood falling into the rivers was an important event and they need to be left in there

Logs at the base of Marymere falls on
Barnes Creek

 
 

Predation

• There is a food web in all ecosystems. I'm not sure what the food web is in this forest, but we were told to beware of hungry mountain lions, so I think we know what the top of the food web is.

• This deer eats lots of grass and is eaten by mountain lions and other things that are further up on the food chain

The next day we went to the tide pools. It was incredible the amount of diversity that was present in these micro ecosystems. Climbing on all the rocks to make it to best tide pools and to make it to the big star fish at the edge of the rocks was tough, I even fell once. Discovering all the small creatures hidden under rocks and hiding beneath the seaweed was worth it. We even got to see a dead octopus that had washed up on the rocks.

Predation

• There is predation all over the place in the tide pools: animals eat seaweed, other animals eat those animals, even bigger animals eat those animals and so on
• We witnessed a Hermit Crab eating a snail out of its shell



This shell had holes pecked
into the top and bottom of it

• Empty shells were everywhere, having been mollusks that were eaten by the Seagulls and other predators when the tide was going down

• Other types of crabs are also big predators in the tide pools like this little guy, but birds also prey on these crabs

Competition

• In the tide pools, there is competition for space that will be in the less harsh conditions when the tide goes down. Minimizing exposure to the sun and the wind is ideal for most creatures and also a space in the pools left behind by the tides going down is a hot commodity
• Space on the rocks are heavily competed for. Muscles and different kind of barnacles are edge to edge trying to claim their space

  

  Muscles Packed tightly together

Facilitation

• Seaweed will attach to whatever surface it can find a secure home on, including muscle shells. I am sure this is much to the muscles chagrin, but I don't think it has much of a choice.  

Disturbances

• I saw the scarring of the barnacles that were taken off the rocks by some way or another
• There were empty patches of rock that some sort of disturbance (waves, animal, etc.) created

A line of Barnacles has been created by a repeat
disturbance on the surface of the rock



 

• This is a valley where a variety of creatures (barnacles, giant star fish, giant green sea anemones, and many types of seaweed) have chosen in order to get away from the harsh elements during low tide exposure... to get a spot in here would be a very big competition as well
  
   

Other cool things:

We found a leopard nudibranch
and identified it

It may be hard to see, but this
is a tidepool sculpin at the bottom
of this picture. It was amazing to
see a fish living is such a small
amount of water.





We found a (sadly) dead octopus