Emily's Puget Sound Journal: Week 2

Date: Monday April 15, 2013

Weather: Overcast with blue sky breaks

Temperature: ~55 degrees F

Time: 11:15 am to 12:15 pm

Location: Marsh Island, Washington Park Arboretum

Instead of riding my bike this week, I walked from my house in the U-District to Marsh Island, which was quite the exploration exercise itself. About 45 minutes of observation helped prepare me for the emerging spring flora and fauna I would see in the Arboretum. There were more flowering shrubs (mostly non-native of course), and plenty of bird calls. A pair of robins was flying back and forth between a tree and the roof of a house, and their interactions intrigued me! Once I arrived at the park, the marshy habitat provided an aquatic landscape with even more birds! I paid special attention to the birds I could see and/or hear. Almost immediately I spotted a large swan-like bird with a brown body and white "tuft" on its back end. The bird had a dark head with a white stripe on the side. I watched it floating along for quite a while until it encountered another bird of the same kind. They became very vocal, and loud! The two of them seemed to combat each other and fly away together. My field guide didn't have a match, so perhaps the bird is not local.

Unidentified large bird (migratory?)

There seemed to be chickadees in the trees all around me, but I was unable to spot any. Their calls were pretty distinctive, but I don't know the specific species. There were quite a few ducks floating in the water, and I recognized them to be Mallard ducks (both male and female).

Male Mallard duck

In the distance, I saw a Great Blue Heron in flight, but was unable to see it up-close like last week. I also heard the "kaw"-ing of a crow several times.I walked about 200 yards from the west end of the island to reach my observation point, and stopped along the way to identify birds bobbing up and down in the waves. They seemed to dive down and then pop back up! Two different color markings made me think there were males and females of the same species. After some observation, I used my field guide to discover they were Barrow's Goldeneye. There were 3 or 4 males and perhaps 2 females within sight.

Male Barrow's Goldeneye

My observation spot seemed much more alive with new growth! In my 1 meter area, I saw blackberry, horse tail, shrub leaves, fallen dead leaves, course woody debris, ivy, and ferns. Below are some photos of my observations. Unfortunately, I am unable to identify most of the shrubs in my close proximity. I have provided photos with the intention to re-photograph and observe next week, and try to further research.

New shrub growth in 1 m area

Fern and ivy growth continues from last week

New leaves growth from existing shrub branch

Repeat photo of 1 m area

Close-up of new shrub growth and horsetail

The drawing exercise was a really useful tool for me in doing fast sketches of my observations, rather than relying on photographs or guide books to help me notice details. I have outlined each step in the exercise below-- I chose to draw the Bog Birch.