Week 1: Visiting McCollum Park

Time: 6:00pm-7:00pm

Place: McCollum Park

Temperature: Low 66, High 70 F

Weather: Partly cloudy, mostly sunny.

The spot I decided to focus on was McCollum Park in Everett. It's off of a busy freeway and transit stop. I haven't visited this park since high school, so I was excited to see it again! I've only been there running on the trail during cross country meets, so there wasn't much time for me to appreciate the plants and nature I saw (unless I fell, of course). I'd like to see how my perception has changed and what I've been missing these years. 
Upon entering the park entrance, there's a fielded area with a baseball field and bmx dirt rode area on one side, then the other a forested hiking trail that's popular with runners. As I walk to the forest entrance, a calming feeling overtakes my body. The previous loud cheers of people playing frisbee on the fielded lawn dissipated, and I was left alone with my thoughts and the sounds of birds chirping. After several minutes, I finally found a perfect spot for my central site. In this spot there are various plant underbrushes that I can yet identify, and different trees within the vicinity. It's a good spot to look for insects because there is a snag nearby.

I walked along the forest and decided on a couple of sites that I want to follow the changes of. But the main one I want to focus on is this:

In this spot I see sword ferns that look like they're withering away. They are a dull green color with brown tips and spots all over. The ferns look weak. The background trees, and the forest, is dominated with Western Redcedar. Everywhere along the trail there are redcedars that averages 2.5-3 feet in diameter. This is definitely a new growth forest, as the tree trunks are smaller and the height aren't as tall as an old-growth. The tree in the middle of this picture is covered in moss and is tangly. I'm not sure what the tree is, but it definitely gives off a creepy vibe. The underbrush doesn't look full right now. It looks bare exposing the dirt underneath. There are spots of green, but it's about 40% covered with plants and 60% soil/dirt. 

There wasn't anywhere to sit in this area, so I stood for about 15 minutes letting the surroundings be. As I stood under a redcedar tree, swarms of flies flew over my head. It was annoying, but the buzzing of the flies oddly gave me comfort. Another buzzing noise came, but this time it was harsh and loud. It was a bumblebee! I couldn't get a picture of it since it kept on moving, but I did learn that bees are coming out of hibernation in the ground right about now. Maybe there was a queen nearby?

I found some red alders and western red cedars in this picture. The alders have that characteristic white fungi scab on gray bark, It felt rough and bumpy, but also smooth at the same time.

I took a picture behind my spot. You can't see it in this picture, but there are actually houses behind this scruff of nature. This sure is an urban forest.

I found a small underbrush growing on a snag. I'm not sure what it is yet, but the leaves are bright green and small and pointy. This was going to be my central spot, but it looked too bare so I moved on deeper into the forest.
 

I took an overhead picture to show how young the forest looks.

Young forest. These trees are redcedars, alders, maple?

Sword ferns dominate the understory of this forest. The ferns are pretty small and wimpy right now. Most have brown coming from the roots. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't sword ferns indicative of the soil quality? Meaning the soil here is polluted.

This scenery unnerves me a bit. The trees are perfectly in line and all with similar diameters. The understory looks too perfectly created in this area. I'm pretty sure this was a restoration area, but it looks more like a plantation. Hopefully when the tree grows more it would look a little more natural. At least the underbrush looks healthy due to the Nitrogen in the soil by the alders.

It's odd. I see Douglas Fir pine cones, but I couldn't find any trees. Maybe I'm identifying the cones wrong?

I'm not sure what these plants are. But I think they are berry plants. These were one of the few blooming flowers on the bushes. I expect as the weeks go on, more will blossom. There were definitely a lot of the rounded, dark green leaves of the white flower and serrated leaves like the pink flower. The pink flower leaves felt rough and bumpy, while the white flower leaves were waxy and rough.

Salmonberry bush maybe? The leaves look like basil and mint leaves.

Moss growing on the redcedar. I wonder if licorice fern will grow on it too?

After about 40 minutes of walking through the forest, I headed back and found a nice little swamp/marsh area. The are was filled in dirty water, with a lot of plant debris (from what it looked like). There was a white foam on top of the water, and no wildlife on it except for flies hovering over. Maybe I'll follow this through the next 10 weeks. There was beaked hazelnut (I think) around this area.

The redcedar leaves are shown well here, with their characteristic scaly, waxy leaves. I'm not an insect specialist so I don't know what this spider is. But it made its home on the leaves of the Western Redcedar, waiting for the flies and mosquitoes that were buzzing over my head.

This little fella just hanging around near me. It barely moved as I was taking this picture.

The trails leading to my spot (50 sq. meters around my spot). I would say there's definitely more understory coverage of bushes than big trees. While walking, I didn't find any animals except for insects and birds. I'm used to squirrels being everywhere, so this is a bit odd. But the dominant tree species is Western Redcedar, the second is alder from what I observed. Currently the bushes are starting to blossom, but only a few have done so. Things are looking a dull green.

This is a nice forested trail. You can see where park trail staff logged a tree because it was a danger to people. It was probably in the middle of the trail.

Towards the beginning of the forest trail. Trees on left, bushes on right. And a random log hanging over. Looks dangerous.

While I was walking through the forest, I heard a chorus of birds chirping. It was magnificent! But it was sad I couldn't identify them yet :-( There were definitely 4 different types of chirps I heard.
One was a high pitched, short cheep chirp. I think it was a chickadee? Because I saw a lot of little sized birds flying around.
There was another bird that had a mocking laugh, deep sounding and mechanical, like a "ha ha ha you can't find me" kind of laugh. I think it's a woodpecker because I've heard this kind of laugh before in Seward Park, and people ID'd it as a woodpecker.
Another type of bird I heard had a melodic chirping. It was long, with distinct chirping that descended in tone. Looking in the bird guide, I think it's an American Robin.

I chased it down from the forest since I heard a lot of these suckers fluttering around but couldn't find it. To my luck, I found it in the open field, chirping. It had a complicated yet melodic chirping. It was long, with repeated cheeps that descends in tone. It sounded like how I would imagine a UFO sounds like.

Hopefully as I journey through this class my identification improves and I'll be able to ID the plants and birds I found in the park. 

First Post! My Experience with Nature

As a kid I spent most of my time outdoors. I grew up in an apartment complex set up to be family friendly with trees and grass along the sidewalks, with benches set up at various places and two small playgrounds. Imagine walking through the smaller sidewalks of the UW campus, but with the giant buildings as modest four-home apartments spread throughout (very scenic). Although it wasn't a forest, I spent most of my time climbing up the trees and under bushes, much to the disapproval of the maintenance staff. Crawling into bushes and hiding in them was my favorite past time. Bushes were the best places to hide during hide-and-seek, or cops and robbers. It was definitely the best place to find caterpillars and ladybugs. I spent hours outside climbing and playing with the plants and on hills, with my sisters and I trying to stay outside as long as we could and our mom tracking us down to come home. Looking back, I wasn't afraid of insects as I am now. I suppose in middle school was when I joined the "city" life and was cooped up in buildings most of the time, depriving myself of natural experiences. Elementary school provided so much opportunity for outdoor time--recess and awesome field trips to the Northwest Trek, camping, and Tillicum Village! But moving on to higher education I spent less and less time in the outdoors and more indoors studying about the outdoors (which is ironic). I became disconnected with the nature I once loved and now I'm trying to reconnect.

What got me interested in the environment again was witnessing the vast forest land that I passed by on a daily basis being cleared for upscale fancy apartment homes. The chirping of the birds I came to know and love, the soft rustling of the leaves, and the fresh smell of the woods all disappeared, replaced with imported plants, artificial landscaping, and obnoxious buildings. It was then that I became fully interested in how our natural environment is constantly being changed by human impact. I felt a personal loss and a deep heartache that still resides in me every time I pass by the giant apartment complex. The worse thing about the apartment complex is how they completely erased all memories of what that specific landscape used to be. Everything from the plants to the roads is completely different, as if there never was a forest there. There isn't an attempt to make the area seem like it has native trees. This experience fueled my passion to reconnect with nature that I've forgotten for 10+ years, and this 280 class will help me in my journey to understand Washington's natural history and the changing landscapes that occur.

Since entering college, I've spent more time outdoors in parks, going on hikes, and just sitting on the grass enjoying natural sounds. The Environmental Education course I took with Tim, where we taught Washington Middle Schoolers concepts of the outdoors and took them on a hiking trip to Seward Park, was the first class I had that required me to pay close attention to the natural surrounding. Conveying it to the middle schoolers and sharing my passion with the outdoors with them was one that cannot be replaced.

I'm really looking forward to being able to identify our state's natural plants and its uses. I've always admired people who can do that naturally. How can we live in Washington without knowing the names of the trees or birds we pass by on a daily basis?! Yet a majority of citizens can name what the golden arched M and a swooshed check mark is. Changing how people perceive nature as being a forefront instead of a background thing is important to propel more people to become better stewards to the natural surroundings. Nature can be seen in high mountaintops, in apartment parks, and in the city. It's everywhere but is often ignored by the busy lifestyles of those living in the city. Figuring out a way to get more people engaged with nature and excited about it is my goal.

I look forward to my journey in this class and how it'll help me in my future endeavors :-)