Week Two

Date: Saturday April 13th, 2013
Weather: Cloudy, with a hail/thunder storm towards the end
Temperature: ~45 degrees F
Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00PM
Location: Discovery Park

It was initially exciting to get back to my little spot in Discovery Park because the sun had been peaking out of the clouds earlier in the day... but that hope was soon dashed. More on that later. Again, I was surprised by how many species I could find even though I thought I combed this area pretty extensively when I was here last week. I noticed quite a few things that were changing about the species I did previously identify too!
Right away, I noticed an American Robin foraging for a meal among the grass. It stopped and seemed to look at me inquisitively as I tried to photograph it.

Cruisin' for a meal

I managed to utilize some of the plant identification we learned during our Enviro 280 field class in Ravenna park too! In fact, I was surprised I didn't see all the Elderberry shrubs before; there were quite a few around my study site. Perhaps they weren't in flower before?

Flowers of the Elderberry. In the Adoxaceae.

I came face to face with our unknown Rosaceae once again. I looked at it. It did its planty thing. I looked at it. It continued to do its planty thing. I cried out "What are you!??!" It remained silent. Luckily, I had some of my labmates help me try to identify it. We quickly established it was Rosaceae, but it was little bit more difficult to figure out what genus it was without an actual flower on hand. Based on its low, bendy growth habit, simple leaves, and potentially multiple stigmas, we tentatively came to the conclusion that it is probably some species within the genus of Spiraea. Most likely this was planted here, as it doesn't look like any native Spiraea that I know. Then again, the only one I know is Spiraea douglasii, which has purple-pink flowers. If anyone knows what species it it, please let me know! That being said, it seems like there are more flowers blooming on these guys, while some are beginning to move on towards the fruity end of things. 

Spiraea spp. Check out how as the flowers mature, the top of the hypanthium turns from
yellow to green and lets the stamens unfurl!

We also managed to come across Tall Oregon Grape, which while it has its buds out, they aren't quite blooming yet. But maybe it was just a little nippy out for them?

Tall Oregon Grape. Got grapes? No? You'd be a lot cooler if you did. 

Sadly, we also came across quite a number of invasive or introduced species. It seems like with the number of people that trek through Discovery Park, someone is likely to bring a hitchhiker on their shoes. We found Bindweed, Cherry Laurel, Rowan Tree ("Mountain Ash") and a Daffodil. I hate bindweed with such a passion. When I first moved into my current house, about two years ago, the backyard was overrun by this stuff. Leave just a little bit in the ground and it will proliferate endlessly. While the flowers of this morning glory is pretty, the fact that it chokes everything else to death is another sight to behold. As a little side tangent, I hear that the seeds of some morning glory species are used in the manufacturing of narcotics. 

Regarding the Cherry Laurel, its name doesn't quite make sense. Well, only half of its name makes sense. The cherry part makes sense since it is in the genus Prunus, like cherries, but the Laurel part doesn't because it would have to be in the family Lauraceae for this to work. Just another example of why common names don't really have to make any sense sometimes. 

The Rowan tree (Sorbus aucuparia) is the tree often referred to in European literature. It is often also referred to as a Mountain Ash, but it has no relation to it, as True Ash trees are in the Oleaceae and this species is in the Rosaceae. The only similarity is their leaves, but looking at the flowers will quickly reveal the distinction. 

Daffodil? Perhaps the first one of its buddies to bloom.

Regarding vegetation of a more native variety, we found Common Yarrow and Thimbleberry. The Yarrow was hard to spot; we saw the umbrella inflorescence of last year, but after a little searching found the basal, highly divided leaves that are tell-tale signs of the Apiaceae. 

Young Yarrow hopes to become a Jarl one day,
with a flat topped crown atop its head

Thimbleberry. Check out the hips on that thing!

We found a mushroom too!

Can I eat it? Can I? Can I?

Another thing I noticed is that some of the Douglas-Firs were beginning to send out their cones! 

And who says conifers are ugly?

Rather than trying to chase down birds this time, we decided to sit down and see if they would come to us. And they kind of did! We managed to see a Black-capped Chickadee mating pair which was foraging in a Indian Plum shrub, as well as a Winter Wren which was giving off some sort of call. Maybe it was a mating call? I need to learn bird calls better! We heard a single squawk and looked up to see the large Northern Flicker flying overhead with its black crest on its chest. After observing the chickadees for a while, a Spotted Towhee bounced along the understory below the Indian Plum shrub, apparently looking for a snack. 

Pretty much the only picture we got of any of the birds. This chickadee is so cute!

We also tried to look for some insects since we hadn't been look for them before, but it proved rather difficult. The combination of them hiding rather well and being so small left us slightly frustrated. But we did find one unknown bug...

These guys can jump quite the distance for their size. No idea what it is though.

This week we also had to do some drawing exercises. However, we got caught in a hailstorm towards the end of our adventure, so we decided to collect some specimens to draw in the safety and warmth of a house. 

We hid under a Douglas-Fir, but the ferocity of the storm still stung. 

I thought that drawing was going to be easy because I drew a Fuschia flower quite easily once before. But how I was quickly proven wrong... 

European Holly:

Different strokes for different folks

Effective use of shading?

Alaskan Yellow Cedar:

Bigleaf Maple: A sad result for so much effort

Elderberry:

While you can't tell cause its blurry, this is pretty good for me! Check out those leaves. Sexy. 

Prunus spp. flower:

Hard to tell with it being so small, but the study flower is super awesome! 

Overall, I found the drawing exercises to be rather challenging. I didn't think the gesture or the diagrammatic exercises were particularly helpful, maybe because of my poor artistic skill? Also, I am used to looking for floral and vegetative traits, so the diagrammatic drawing did not really force me to do anything new. I imagine for someone more artistically inclined with minimal natural history background, the diagrammatic might help them draw more definitive traits. I didn't really think the contour was all that helpful either, but it was funny to see how they turned out because they often looked like abstract art. Maybe I have a career in abstract flowers? In the end, I thought the memory and study exercises were the most helpful. Memory because it made you critically analyze the subject before drawing, and study because you can truly take your time to add the detail, shading, and correct angles that make a drawing come to life. Or in my case, make it look at least a little close to the specimen. But it was fun! I might try to do some study drawings in the future!