Week 3: Field Guide Descriptions

In this post, I'll highlight 8 species found in Yesler Swamp and document them as if this was my own field guide for Yesler Swamp.

#1. Nootka Rose. R. nutkana

This is the first shrub that welcomes me into Yesler Swamp each week. It always catches my eye quickly because of the red berries growing on it. The underside of the berries all have leaf-like material coming off of them which also helps identify it. The thorns on Nootka Rose are large and sturdy. It has small opposite leafs that are serrated more severely toward the end of the leafs. According to my guidebook (Cascade Olympic Natural History. Daniel Mathews. pg 85) the berries are edible and can even be used as breath fresheners.

#2 Salmonberry. R. spectabilis

The easiest way for me to identify salmonberry is by its occasional pink flower drooping over pointing toward the ground. The stems are slightly prickly and it has compound leafs that break out into 3 leaflets. The leafs are toothed all around. At my site salmonberry tends to be no taller than breast height.

#3 Giant Horsetail. E. telmateia

These are very common in Yesler Swamp. They grow fairly straight up and don't get much taller than about shin height in the swamp. There are brown rings that can be seen up the green stalk. Stiff dense hair grows off the side of the main stalk starting a little before halfway off the ground. The only difference I really know between common horsetail and giant horsetail is size, and possibly denseness of the hairs.

#4 Skunk Cabbage. Lysichitum americanum

In the beginning of April a distinct characteristic of the skunk cabbage was a very bright yellow cupped leaf/petal standing straight up. Right now it's easiest to identify it by it's big green leafs that fall to the side and it's single tube shaped stalk with a catkin(?) at the end of it. Also, if you grind up some of the leaf and smell it then you'll understand how it got its name. When found in large patches you can even smell it in the air without disturbing it.

#5 Oregon Ash. Fraxinus latifolia

This isn't the best picture due to the lighting, but Oregon Ash can be identified by the opposite twigs that come out. In addition to being opposite, they alternate directions as you go up the tree, so if the first two twigs face north and south, then the next two twigs above them will face roughly east/west, and so on. This was the only one I located in Yesler Swamp but they are definitely recognizable by those above characteristics.

#6 Red-osier Dogwood. Cornus stolonifera

I had a difficult time finding one of these as well, but the first helping evidence that it was red-osier dogwood were the red twigs. Then while looking at the leafs you can see that they are opposite and that the vein structure goes from the middle vein in the leaf and curves longitudinally (click the picture to get a better look at this). Lastly, one reason I may not have seen many is that I was mostly staying on the trail which doesn't often go right next to the water. When I spotted the red twigs I had to go through some brush and noticed it was growing right next to water kind of in some standing water of the swamp.

#7 Red-Flowering Currant. R. sanguineum

The red-flowering currant quickly catches your eye with it's pinkish-red flowers. They grow in clusters together which makes it easy to distinguish from salmonberry. The leafs are 5 lobed, with 3 obvious lobes and 2 more subtle ones near the stem of the leaf. The flowers kind of shoot outward as opposed to bleeding heart that droops downwards.

#8 Lady Fern and Sword Fern. Athyrium filix-femina & Polystichum munitum

I really like this picture because it helps with contrasting lady ferns from sword ferns. The lady fern (middle-left, light green) has compound leafs with leaflets coming off of leaflets. The sword fern on the other hand just has the single leaflets coming off in a sword-like shape. Also, the leaflets of lady ferns start small near the base, then get longer, then get shorter again near the ends. Sword fern leaflets start big and gradually get smaller near the end. From my experience it seems like lady ferns have tended to be brighter and standing more vertically. I had my eye out for licorice ferns growing on trees further inland from the water, but didn't spot any.

Week 3: Observations

Thursday April 18th
3:30-4:30 PM
Some showers. About 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

On Thursday I looked out of the window and it looked like it was going to rain, but it hadn't started yet, so I decided I would get out to Yesler Swamp before the rain came. Somewhere in between looking out the window and walking out the door, the rain had begun. It wasn't too bad though, so I continued on and ended up having a great time. I took a shortcut through Union Bay Natural Area that I discovered from class earlier that day and I noticed some signs about animals that make their home in this area. One of the animals listed was coyote, which got me excited with hope that I would come across one. As goofy as that sounds, it made walking through the swamp a lot more fun, because with the rain I felt as if I was alone in the swamp with big wild coyotes! Not surprisingly, I did not see any coyotes, but I did feel as though I was taking in more and more of my surroundings by being alert for coyotes. One major thing I noticed was that the tall Cottonwood trees made a loud creaking noise whenever the wind came up. At first I thought it was some kind of bird I had never heard before, but after a minute or two I realized it was just the trees. Speaking of the cottonwood trees, in the swamp many of them are very tall and don't branch out until they are very high so initially identifying was a little difficult since all I had was bark and a distant view of the leafs. Being a wetlands and based on their size, I think it's safe to assume they are cottonwoods.

Another thing I saw was a dead rodent! It didn't really look eaten, but definitely killed because of the way the neck/head of it looked like. It was close to the trail through the swamp though, so my guess is that a bird killed it and people walking through the swamp may have accidentally scared the bird off it's prey. That's my guess because I was in Union Bay Natural Area last quarter on a mini-field trip and we accidentally scared a hawk off of a duck it had killed. We haven't talked too much about animals yet, but I tried identifying this rodent and my best guess is a deer mouse, but this seems like it may be too big for that, so I'm not too confident.

Deer mouse perhaps? I wonder what killed it.

I also saw some cool looking lichen. I know absolutely nothing about lichen except that you can find it on trees, but this seemed like a pretty good example of whatever kind of lichen this is because it was so big! Based on about 5-10 minutes of reading about lichen in my guidebook, my best guess would be that it's some kind of Reindeer lichen, but I may have to change this along with the deer mouse.

Look at that big hunk of lichen! There are also some small yellowish growths off the branch.

Lastly, something new and interesting I saw was a bright red mushroom. Possibly a Fly Amanita? I didn't use my field guide when I was looking at it and now I'm realizing that a picture of the stem and underside of the mushroom would help identify it. Hopefully I remember where it is next week!

Fly Amatia maybe? It really stands out relative to it's size because it's so bright red.

Week 2

Sunday April 14
1:30-2:30 PM
Mostly sunny 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit

Ah the sun! While it was fun to go at dusk last week to see beavers, it is hard to beat sitting out in the sun after these long Seattle Winters. The trail was still similar to last week in that it was soggy and squishy, but there didn't seem to be as much standing water beside the trail. There also wasn't any water dripping down from the canopy - only sun. It felt like there was in general more growth throughout the swamp because I was really having to shimmy my way down the trail in some parts to not run into plants. I don't remember having to do that last week - perhaps because I was wet and carefree. The lone skunk cabbage I spotted last week was no longer alone. There were two other ones next to the one I had seen last week, but I suspect they had been there all along and I just didn't have the observation skills to spot them! Sadly, the yellow leaf on it was looking much less vibrant and wasn't standing up straight like it was last week. The big green leafs seemed much larger this week though, so I'm interested to keep following how that plant progresses. I was able to identify salmonberry that I had seen last week but learned about this week. I've got quite a bit of it and am curious when the actual berries grow. I was also able to tell the difference between a swordfern and a lady fern. I had thought that all the ferns were the same, I had no idea that we have so many different kinds! While the swordferns still look brown in areas and possibly unhealthy, the lady ferns were a nice light green color and standing up somewhat straight. I visited the tall wheat-like grass again and for some reason there was an on going clicking sound. I couldn't figure out if it was from insects amongst the plants or if it was literally the plants making the noise. I thought the sun may have something to do with it, but I'm not sure. Another thing I saw when I was out there were turtles! There had to have been at least 10, but they were across the water a ways so it was hard to count them or identify them any further than 'turtles'. The site continues to be a tough one for bird watching due to all the foliage.

 Here is a repeat photo from a plant I saw last week. Any redness these berries had is now turning dark and shriveling up.

 

 Here is the Salmonberry.

 

Lady fern! It's funny how different it looks compared to sword fern now that I know the difference.

 

 Here's a repeat of the skunk cabbage. The glare from the sun doesn't quite show how much the yellowness of the one main leaf has changed. Notice the size of the green leafs.

 

 Here is my view out across the water on a nice sunny day. There is a log out there covered in turtles!

 

Lastly, here is the wheat-like grass that I'm sure we'll see a lot of at Union Bay Natural Area.

This week the main assignment was sketching. I have very little experience with drawing or sketching, so this was definitely a challenge for me. To help myself out a little, I chose a plant that was pretty simple. I'm not sure what it is, but going through these exercises really made me see many more details than I would have without the sketching. Anyways, here they are:

My study drawing actually turned out much better than how I feel about pretty much anything I've ever drawn. Going through the steps not only helped me get to know the plant better, but I think it may have enhanced my drawing skills. Here are the 4 other plants I decided to draw as well:

 

If you click on the pictures hopefully they will be big enough so that you can clearly see them.

My Formative Experience in Nature

When initially thinking about a 'formative' experience in nature, it was a little tough and I really had to try to think back. I don't think my formative experience in nature was a sudden "ah-ha" moment, because even last year I had no idea that environmental studies would be something that interests me, but I can definitely trace back a possible subtle formative experience to one specific hobby - sailing.

My father was an avid sailor all his life and even lived on a 29 foot sailboat for a few years. That same sailboat was the one that my family would take out on Summer vacations to the San Juan's when I was around 10 years old. With the four of us on the boat, things could get rather cramped. I was always playing sports as a kid and moving around quite a bit, but on that boat there was a lot of sitting. I enjoyed the sailing aspect of the vacation whenever the wind was just right to give me a slight thrill but not scare me, although my favorite part of the vacations were the island adventures. We would always try to find a good anchorage before it got too late so that whoever wanted to could go ashore and see the islands. Because of all the work and sailing (sitting) it took to get to these islands, it made me appreciate them so much more. I saw many interesting animals like deer, little birds on beaches with tiny legs that run around quickly, and even shellfish spitting water up at me on beaches like mini-geysers. I experienced the powers of tides when my dad and I became stranded at the end of a spit, not realizing that the tide had separated us from our dinghy. There are many more stories, but they all have one thing in common: they were fun.

Whenever I could get out and stretch my legs it didn't matter if something went wrong like having to tread through cold saltwater up to your chest, because at least I was on land and out in nature like never before. While I took awhile to realize it, these sailing vacations really showed me that I'm the kind of person that prefers to be outdoors. Being a restless kid stuck on a sailboat for many hours at a time gave me a new appreciation for little things like chapstick, and bigger things like the natural world around us that can really make you feel alive.

Week 1

Date: Saturday April 6, 2013
Weather: Mostly Cloudy - Off and on rain
Temperature: ~ 50 degrees F
Time: 6:00-7:00 PM
Location: Yesler Swamp

This quarter I will be making observations and blogging about my findings in Yesler Swamp. I was first introduced to this area Fall quarter on a mini-field trip with my ENVIR 100 class, and has since become my favorite spot to take a break half way through my very infrequent jogs. One great thing about the Yesler Swamp is that it has good signage to give a little background on the area. There is currently a Capstone group working on removing English Ivy, Himalayan Blackberry, and Reed Canary Grass. These are all non-native invasive species that will be replaced by natives planted by the Capstone students. There have also been Capstone students in previous years that have done similar projects in other areas of the swamp. I'm really looking forward to learning this swamp inside and out because there is a similar spot near my house in South Seattle that I really enjoy as well. If I get some free time maybe I'll compare and contrast the two sites sometime this quarter and share my findings in a blog post!

I bundled up and made my way to Yesler Swamp around 5:45. It had been raining nearly all day and it was just about dusk so the swamp felt extra swampy. Each step on the trail was somewhat of a dance in order to dodge the puddles. It was often difficult to tell if it was raining because there was so much water trickling down from the trees and shrubs. Ripples on standing water in the swamp made me think that there were insects or spiders on the water, but in reality it was mostly just water droplets falling. The sounds of the swamp - aside from the occasional plane over head - was dominated by birds. I had a difficult time spotting them because of the lighting and the overall denseness of the plants. There aren't many birds I can identify with birding by ear, but I know I heard a Bald Eagle make it's call at some point. The smell was generally a fresh, clean smell, but I noticed when I was around the middle of the swamp there would occasionally be a thick and musty smell - almost like manure sometimes.

Most of the plants I saw in Yesler Swamp I am currently unable to identify, but I noticed that I saw a few of the same plants that my professor Tim identified in his blog (http://envir280.blogspot.com/). One of which was Skunk Cabbage. It seemed really out of place because it wasn't very close to any other plants and the big yellow part of it was very vibrant compared to everything else. I had camera difficulties, but I'll try getting a picture next week. Another plant I found were Horsetails. These were all over the place and tended to be pretty small - maybe about 6 inches tall right now. I also saw some Sword ferns but many of them didn't seem the rich green I would expect. There was some brown in their fronds giving them an unhealthy look. Here are some of the pictures of plants I was able to get:

 One of the many horsetails in the swamp.

 

 I should definitely know my trees better. I believe this is a Douglas Fir, but I'll confirm that before bolding it.

 

 Here is an interesting plant I found. It has many little fuzzy looking fronds coming off of it, and some hard sticky brown seed-like things.

 

 I believe this is the non-native invasive reed canary grass, but I'll need to confirm this one later as well.

 

 Here is the sword fern with the brownish color on some of the fronds I was talking about.

 

Not sure what this is. Shrub-like and has red and blueish-black looking berries.

 

Lastly, some more animals! I came around dusk in hopes of seeing beavers that I heard lived down here. Sure enough, they do! I walked along the path and as I approached the water I tried to be extra quiet so that if there were any birds I might be able to get a good look at them. A Great Blue Heron heard or saw me first and started squawking very loudly as it flew away under the power of its massive wings. Then once I got up to the water I spent some time looking for other birds or a beaver and I saw plenty of both! A few Mallard ducks flew by, as well as some American Crows. After a couple minutes of roughing the very cold steady wind, a beaver (specific specie of beaver maybe?)popped up and swam around. It kept it's distance from me, but it was still a lot of fun to watch him swim and dive.

 

 My view of the beaver and the lake. Also, some kind of long wheat-like grass in the foreground.

 



Here is the spot of my small plot I'll be revisiting throughout the quarter. I don't expect it to be this wet throughout the quarter because it had been raining a lot before I visited.

 

Can't wait to be back next week and really start being able to identify more and more!