Week 6

November 7^th, 2014

2:30 pm
Ravenna Park
Sunny Weather

Observation 1:

As I sit in my natural abode I examine this organism. Extending far above my head, this organism extends all the way to the sky. From this point, I cannot see the end, or the top, as it appears to grow forever.  To hold the plant together, a mast like structure stands vertically. The mast has clear lines that continue up the structure and to the touch has an uneven yet soft texture. As I rub my hands over the plant, my fingers do not get any splinters or feel pain. I look above me and see what appear to be sticks protruding from the mast in all directions. There is no clear rhythm or organization. The best way to compare this plant is to consider it as a human being. The human stands vertically, the mast like structure, and has arms, the sticks, coming out of he/her side. New arms on this human form regularly and some arms are longer than the other. Some of the arms have a green substance growing on it. This could be considered as the hair on the arms of the plant. This hair grows randomly throughout the tree and grows at different lengths as well. Each arm has many green fingers. On this specific plant, some fingers are brown and dried out while others are newly grown. Each finger has many alternating pieces with a scaly texture. There is more than one of these plants in this area; I can count three in the vicinity. All of the plants are not directly in the creek but are adjacent to it.

Observation 2:

I see an animal jumping around in the branches. It is make this constant clicking noise to other animals in the forest. The noise sounds like a song, trying to signal to other animals of the same family its location. As it hops from branch to branch it stops to sing its song. No responses occur and the animal goes quiet for quite some time. Then it flies to another tree and sings its song again. This continues for a couple minutes and eventually the animal flies away from the area. Who knew such a small animal could make such a large sound. The body of the small animal was a light brown with some white parts; the wings were a darker brown. The mouth of the animal has a pointy protruding part that was black. Its small legs were brown and slightly coarse. Unfortunately, the animal did not stick around for long and I was not able to examine it more. 

Observation 3:

As I look to my right I see a plant growing out of the mud. It is a green color with slightly lighter green parts closer to the mud that appears to be drying out. The plant grows slightly vertically and then completely horizontal, resting on many branches. This plant is winning in the battle for light because it has managed to grow above all the other plants in the area. When analyzing the pattern of the plant, there is a clear rhythm. The vertical section, coming out of the mud, has individual notches. The notches closest to the ground are longer than the ones that have grown at the tip. At each notch intersection, there is what appears to leaf like structures growing in all directions. These leaf structures create a circular brush and there is no clear length to what these leaves grow at. Additionally to brush leaves, the plant is hollow and each notch separates from the other easily. Although a very rhythmic structure, the plant appears to be doing well in the fall season. 

Repeat Series:

Panoramic picture of the observation site.

A picture of the Western Sword Fern directly next to the creek

The slope view at my Ravenna Park site

Directly behind the Western Red Cedar, where I take my observations. 

A mix of Red Alder, Big Leaf Maple, and Western Red Cedar leaves on the ground. 

A dried out lady fern beside the creek.  

Salmonberry is beginning to be eaten and get dried out.