Ravenna Park Explorations

Revisiting My Site      I did my observations at 1:30pm at Ravenna Park on Wednesday, November 25th. The weather was sunny and partially cloudy, and it was 46 degrees.               Revisiting my site, nearly all of the leaves on the red alder trees have fallen. The common hazel on larger trees has turned yellow. More cones on western hemlock and western redcedar trees have dropped but a few remain on the branches. My small scale site. The moss on the log is damp from the recent rainfall and the small mushrooms that were growing here have either died or fallen off, possibly because of the rain or wind. There is also less lichen on the surface of the log. I didn't see any water bugs or other species in the creek this week. My large scale observation site. The trees lost more leaves this week and more light is shining through the canopy. The Oregon grape plants I observed before look like they're growing la...

Revisiting my Site I went to my site at 2:30pm on Wednesday, November 18th. It was cloudy, windy and raining, and around 46 degrees. Its been two weeks since I was last here and today I noticed the most dramatic changes I have seen yet. Many species lost most if not all of their leaves, such as the snowberry bushes, Old Man's Beard , and red alder trees. The remaining leaves on the red alder trees were all brown. There aren't as many pine trees as birch trees at my site but the one I observed lost it's needles. The water level of the creek rose, I assume because of the heavy rain the past few days. Some plants close to the edge of the creek became submerged and died, such as skunk cabbage, which turned brown and looked degraded. There have also been heavy winds the past few days so many tree branches snapped off and fell on the ground. Some of the smaller shrubs such as one bracken fern that was browning and dying when I first started my observations completely died and ...

 1.  2. For supporting me to live, I give thanks to the soil that provides a home for the microorganisms and nutrients allowing plants to grow. 3. Doing silent observations, not looking for anything in particular, I noticed things on a larger scale. I paid attention to the different levels of the forest present, thinking back to our discussion on class of how forests grow. I noticed more small shrubs on the ground, mainly  Polystichum munitum ,  Ranunculus repens ,  and  Mahonia nervosa . Scanning my eyes upward I noticed small trees, mainly young  Thuja plicata  and  Acer circinatum . The highest level of trees was composed of  Alnus rubra  whose branches did not extend far down their trunks. Noticing sounds, I heard the flowing creek, crunching leaves and snapping twigs under my feet as I walked, splashing as I pulled my shoes out of the mud, wind rustling leaves and branches and whistling through, and bird calls. As for touch, th...

 Revisiting My Site I returned to my site on the edge of Ravenna creek in Ravenna Park at 12:30pm on Tuesday, October 27th. The weather was sunny and partially cloudy, and 55 degrees. I felt like I noticed many more signs of fall changes this week compared to last. The leaves on the red alder trees have begun to change to a more brown color and become more wilted. The leaves on the ground have also become more wilted. Some of the other species I observed, such as bracken fern and vine maple's leaves appear to be more deteriorated, like some animal has been munching on them. I also heard many more bird calls this week from different species, as opposed to last week when I only heard crows. Additionally, as the weather gets wetter and rainier I've seen more worms and slugs. I saw a garden slug and very small worm. I was able to identify a few more shrubs, such as salal and osoberry. My broader scale observation site. Comparing this photo to the photo from my first week and my obs...

Part I: Revisiting my site I went back to my site on the edge of Ravenna Creek Tuesday, October 20th at 12:30pm. It was 55 degrees and the weather was mostly sunny with some clouds, though it had been raining the morning and day prior so everything was damp. The creek seemed to be louder this week, possibly due to more running water from the rainfall. I saw less insects flying on and around the creek, however there were more birds this week and I heard many crows squawking. There were also more leaves most of which were from Alnus rubra , common name red alder trees. The leaves were oblong to round shaped with one main vein, dark green with about ten sharp ridges on the outside. I had incorrectly identified these leaves as Paper Birch last week due to the similarity of the white bark of both species, but looking again the ridges around the edge of the leaves are sharper than on Paper Birch trees. My broader scale site week two. Not much has changed other than more leaves on the ground ...