Birds and more phenomenology observations

Temperature: 63°F, partly sunny weather

Date: May 12, 2015 at 4:49pm

Zoomed out view of site

There were a few changes that I automatically noticed when I entered my site this week. One of the visible differences was that either the salmonberry were wilting or ripening. As shown in the pictures below, the wilted ones closed into itself and turned into a dark brownish color while the ripening ones transformed into an almost bright orange color with hints of green throughout.

Salmonberry wilting

Salmonberry flower bud

Salmonberry beginning to ripen

After noticing the changes for the salmonberries, I began looking at the mushrooms that I found last week all over a stray log. Although they were generally located in the same locations, on the side of the log as well as in the inner far back of the log, one change that stuck out to me was its color. The fungi turned a slightly darker brown and they seemed drier, less gentle than last week. I didn't touch it to test this theory out but it seemed more clumped together into clusters as well. It was a little tougher finding these mushrooms the second time around with less of them spread out everywhere, with most of them in shadier and darker spots.

Mushrooms growing from the side of a log

Mushrooms growing in the far back of a log

Other observations included the increased toppled state of the Oregon Ash trees located close to the stream. Their trunks were already thinner than the other Oregon Ash trees I found elsewhere, but I didn't expect them to fall over even more than usual. Most of the branches were broken off and there were barely any leaves left.

There were also a few Bigleaf Maple trees nearby that was also falling off but I paid more attention to the wilted state of its leaves.

Wilted bigleaf maple leaves

Zoomed in picture of wilted leaf

In addition to documenting the changes throughout Ravenna Park, another requirement of this journal was to observe the behaviors of birds. During my attempts to spot some birds, I did capture a picture of a squirrel running frantically through bushes and up a tree. I also found a lot of evidence of Artist's Conks on the left side of the path. 

Frantic squirrel

Artist's Fungus (looking up perspective)

After five minutes of walking down a straight path, I eventually heard some birds in the background. At first, there was only one crow but it started to get louder and as I looked up, I saw at least five crows flying around amongst the trees. I spotted one crow bathing itself in the stream below me but as I got closer, it flew off towards the upper part of a tree. Most of the crows rested on a branch of a different tree but there were two crows that were resting on a branch extremely close together. It was difficult to make out what they were specifically doing except occasionally cawing and moving their heads back and forth. After ten minutes of observing them in the trees, I started walking on the path again with hopes to find a different type of bird.

Crow flying above me

Crows resting on the tips of branches and/or flying away

About seven minutes after walking along the same path, I ran across two small birds pecking at the ground, for what I assumed was food. As I tried to get closer to get a picture, they flew off right away. It was probably the combination of me and a large black lab walking closer to it, but that's besides the point. They were both a darkish grey/brown color so although I was not able to identify the species - they were probably female birds since male birds are generally more colorful. The bird on the left flew off towards the high canopies of one tree while the bird on the right flew into some bushes. 

Two small birds pecking at the ground

Assuming it would be easier to observe the bird within the bushes, I watched it burrow further and further past branches and leaves. Occasionally, it would stop and stayed still so the bushes stopped rustling immediately. The bird blended very well within its surroundings so it was hard at times to see where it was currently resting. It was only when the leaves and branches of the bush moved that I knew where to look. It was only after I no longer knew the bird was that I stopped my bird observations. 

Small bird hiding between shrubs