Week 8

November 19^th, 2014

3:00 pm

Ravenna Park

Sunny Weather

This week I returned to my Ravenna Park location. The past few weeks have had no rain, so the amount of mud at my location was greatly decreased. I found myself not having to worry about getting stuck in the mud, which was a benefit for me. Unlike last week, this week did not show many changes at my site. The majority of leaves have fallen from the trees in the area and leaves have piled on the floor of the forest. The water flow was lower than normal, again due to the lack of rain. Ravenna Park creek gets much of its water from city run-off. When it does not rain in Seattle, the water level lowers greatly. Many of the plants that I had identified, like the western sword fern by the creek, were almost completely dried out. The branch from the western red cedar appears to have grown an inch, which made it difficult more me to observe the entire Ravenna Park location. It is a constant battle between my head and that one branch. Lastly, I walked around my area trying to find new plants. I found a dying vine maple amongst piles of leaves.  

Panoramic picture of the observation site.

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

A close-up of the Western Sword Fern by the creek.

Vine Maple growing on the ground.

Bird Observations:

I began the assignment to find birds by standing silently by some trees. Hearing birds moving around, it is not difficult to find birds in sunny weather. If you are listening closely, there are many birds chirping around you in the forest. I am still in the process of learning the birdcalls; therefore it was difficult for me to identify what birds I was hearing. As I stood I heard rustling in the bushes to my left. I slowly inched towards the bush and fern filled area to look for the bird. The bird kept jumping from branch to branch and was just out of site. I remained quiet and waited for the bird to come to me. Within a few minutes, a bird was jumping on branches directly in front of me. It appeared to be looking for food because it was not making any chirping noises. Also, the bird moved from branch to branch quickly, looking in all directions. It remained in the plants close to the ground. Once it was closer to me, the bird noticed I was standing there and did not seem phased. I tried to identify it in the field and guessed a song sparrow, which was wrong. After doing some research later, I decided the bird I saw was a pacific wren. It was a dark brown color with a puffy stomach. Unlike many small birds, its stomach was larger and more prominent. I wanted to see how the bird would react to the call of its own species, so I played a song sparrow call from Youtube on my phone. Due to the fact that I miss identified the bird, playing the song sparrow call caused the pacific wren to fly away. The bird immediately heard the call of another bird and flew towards some ferns by the creek. This means that the two types of birds do not socialize with one and other. The song sparrow, which also eats seeds in the bushes, is a direct competitor with the wren. From the experiences I have had with song sparrows, they are territorial. The pacific wren heard the call of the sparrow and did not want to engage in a fight. As the bird flew away, the flight pattern of the pacific wren intrigued me. It flew close to the ground and moved quickly. The pacific wren flaps its wings twice then soars, flaps its wings twice then soars; it repeated this as many times as necessary. I continued to play the call of the song sparrow and after awhile the pacific wren came back to its original feeding location. It quickly learned that I was playing the call of the song sparrow from my phone. 

When standing in the forest I heard a call from one barred owl to another. For about 20 seconds, in the distant trees, I heard the distinct noise of the barred owl. I easily identified the call because it is distinct. The call starts with owl sounds and has what sounds like monkey noises included in it. Once I heard the barred owls, I was determined to find them. I quickly made my way towards the area and scanned the trees above me. Unfortunately, I was unable to see the barred owls but it was still an amazing experience to hear them in a woodland habitat.

Gesture Sketches:

Pacific Wren looking for food

Pacific Wren in flight