Monday, May 20th 8-9pm 54 degrees

Varnished Conk - they have a tough woody shelf like growth, and I was so surprised by the entire black color that surround this fungi. I have seen a lot of bracket fungi and never anything like this. The upper side shows concentric striations that represent successive years of growth. They can grow for as long as 50-80 years. The lower species is composed of numerous different minute pores, and when you see a large and thick conk you can usually assume they are an Artists Conks of the Ganoderma applanatum group which can reach to be up to 3 feet across and eight inches thick!!!

In the phylum Basidiomycota- very hard to identify the exact species, still struggling. 

Turkey Tail- Trametes versicolor- is a common polypore mushroom found throughout the world. I hiked up the biggest hill I could in Ravena and I found this large log on the ground with these small Turkey Tails. Turkey Tail is a common bracket fungus. It is a spoon or cup shape and is up to four inches wide. The colors can range from brown, white, tan, orange and red. They often overlap each other. They usually "bloom" from may to December. They can last several years. 

I am unsure what kind of plan this is, I think it may be a HUGE Skunk Cabbage that lost its yellow petals. 

Coltsfoot- Tussllago Farara is in the family of Astereceae and can be used as an effective use for cough medicine (anti-tussive). I had not noticed this plant yet, until it had grown so large. Eventually there will be flowers blooming but I still see no signs of any flowers, the leaves are very large. In the spring it is a dandelion flower that often covers yards and roadsides.  The leaves are heart shaped and come up sharply and seem to come up in groups. 

Last  week the salmon berries had flowered and now they are starting to create little salmon colored berries!!! I was so temped to eat one, but I didn't. 

antler lichen/ Fruticose Lichens are characterized by their erect stalks which have no distinguishable upper and lower surfaces. I found this on a highly branched twig, it is a pale gray lichen and I found it on a Hemlock so I that is how I came to the conclusion that it was a common Antler Lichen, they often grow on Hemlocks. 

Black Morel- is a genus of edible mushrooms and is closely related to the cup fungi. They have a very distinct shape that is similar to honeycomb.  It was not taller than 2 cm, they have spore disposal and through ingestion. They are cluster in the M. Elata group. The stem is fairly dark as well as the body of the cap. These mushrooms can be difficult to find but when they are found are defiantly worth eating!! I found three of the, and sautéed them with a soy garlic sauce, with rice and tofu and it was magical!!!

birds

MonDAY MAY 13,2013   very windy and 54 degrees

Yellow warbler- Passeriformes Parulidae- I was walking down to lower Ravena when I saw this bird, saw it on a tree and it quickly flew away but this is my best guess of what it was. It was near the top of a tall shrub, and first it quickly hoped along a branch and darted off.

I watched a Anna's Hummingbird for a while at Ravena, it was mostly perched on top of this tree and just sat there, it seemed very aware of everything that was going on. It was perched on a smaller maple tree. it had a straight bill and long slopping forehead. I know it was a male because it had a bright iridecent red color. When it finally took of it flew so fast it was hard to follow, it didnt fly in a straight line it flew in a wavy loopy way. It didnt seem very social, all the times I have seen them they have been alone perched on a branch.

This is a really far away picture of a crow- I had a really hard time identifying birds today because these two crows were attacking and making all of these loud noises and I think it scared a lot of the other birds off. I am not sure exactly what they were doing, but it a bird sound sense they were screaming. They seemed angry at each other and I spent most of my time watching them. The sun was going down and most of the noise that I could hear near my sight was these two crows. Crows and Ravens are apart of the same Corvid family and are considered some of the most adaptable and intelligent birds, they have black coloring and are highly social behavior. They have nests that are usually up high in trees and I was not able to identify any nests, but they seemed to be communicating between each other. I thought it was very hard to identify any birds because most of the birds were not near by and although I had a monocular I still had a very hard time following any of the birds. It was very frustrating- it was also hard because so many people were walking along the trail and I believe that was disturbing many of the birds that I could have seen. They seemed to be very high up in the trees so it was very hard to see them. 

Raspberries - These just recently bloomed and this is the first time I have seen them. The horse tails have also grown to almost my waist 

I also found these Snowberries which I had not noticed until this week, there were not very many of them, and they were in a small area. They still do not have the small white flowers there are suppose to have. This is an important winter food source for many different birds. 

English Ivy- European colonists introduced English Ivy as early as 1720's. It was widely planted for its evergreen foliage and dependability as a year round ground cover. This plant has infested many landscapes, parks and ecosystems. It is an aggressive invader and threatens all vegetations levels of the forests, all the way to the top of the forest canopy!

BUGS

Sunday May 5, 2013 High 70s 11-130

Stink Beatle- pinacate bettle, it is a species of the darkling beetle. This bettle is noted for its defensive tactic of standing on its head and spraying noxious spray. I found this bug under a log, and it was very quick and hard to catch, it would run, hid under some leaves and then play dead, it look me a while to catch him. It was a shiny black color and had some light lines on its back that were a slightly lighter color. 

Armadillidiiae vulgare- is in the insect family it is part of the Woodlice family, they can roll their bodies into a ball shape and this process is known as conglobation. I found this under a log, and it was very easy to catch, it rolled into a ball first and I then caught it. It looked like it had a sturdy outside shell, so I was amazed with its ability to roll into a ball so quickly. 

This is hard to see, but its a picture of a massive spider, I haven't been able to identify it because it was really hard to even take a picture of and its not very visible. It was huge!!

Forget-me-not- Myosotis - with close to 50 species in the genus there is a lot of variation, most are small and this one has blue and yellow. they can tolerate partial sun and shade. I had not been to my site in two weeks so this was the first time I had seen these flowers. They must have just recently bloomed!

I have noticed, the horse tails have grown much larger close to 25-45% larger than they originally were two and a half weeks ago. The sword ferns seem to be not a as vibrant green, some seem to be dying while others are slightly brown in places. The salmon berry is also done blooming, so that is also a new observation this week. Overall my site was very very green, and seems to be growing like crazy. The hill side was covered in this beautiful purple flower which I am unsure what kind of flower it is, possibly not native, I will post a picture below.

Salmon berry

Skunk Cabbage is done blooming, I am not sure if that is the correct terminology- it no longer has it yellow leaves.

And a slug on a stick! 

Weekend away!

I really enjoyed my time away in the forest and on the coast. In the old growth forest there was vertical diversification. This means the branches were growing down the tree. One way to identify an old growth forest in with the acronym B.U.N.S. -big trees, smaller understory, nurse logs, and shags.

Predation- Is a biological interaction that takes place between one species that is decomposing and another plant uses the previous' plants resources to grow. This is a non symbolic relationship. An example of this is a wasp looking for a Douglas Fir caterpillar. Another example is the mushroom growing on dead wood. I believe the picture below is some kind of Mushroom:

Facilitation-the tree provides the moss with water and the mychorhizal fungus tree provides glucose. Nursing tree- is a place where lichens can grow as well as moss and other algae and fungus.

Pollination in another example of predation- as well as when aunts pollinate.

Disturbance- Douglas tree that fell and cleared an area, this now becomes an opening in the forest. This opening leads to pioneer species. The burnt out tree that we saw was another example of a disturbance from a fire.

competition- everything is competing for light and water!

An example of this is a Douglas fir that grows very quickly but cant grow in shade. While an example of a pioneering species is the Douglas fir, while a successional species is Hemlock which reproduces in a mature forest, and will eventually take over if there is enough time.

The picture below is a trillium: Trilliums have 3 white petals and grows in cool moist mixed woods. They flower in early spring and perennial.

The seeds of trilliums are spread by aunts! 

Sea Anemone that is part of the water-dwelling predatory animals of the order of Actiniaria. One interesting fact I learned in class is the ability for Anemones to identify strange anemones if they are set within there specific communities. The Anemones then proceed to sting the foreigner to death. Although they have no nervous system they still can identify intruders!! I find that fascinating! 

Sea anemones are a group of water-dwelling, predatory animals of the order Actiniaria.

This is a Blood Sea Star Fish in the Echinoderms Family. They have closely set equal blue spins and are found at low tide zone to the water. It can absorb nutrients through its skin. 

Purple Sea Urchin- Family: Echinoderms. They are usually around 4" wide and 1" high. They are a oval shape with spines, and a vivid purple color. I found these Urchins in the low tide zone, they were seemed to often be living in rounded depressions in the rocks- they actually slowly erode these rocks with their teeth and spines! The picture below is what is left behind from a sea urchin who died. 

Chiton: Are apart of the Polyplacophores family and have a dorsal shell that is composed of eight seperate shell plates. The  plates overlap and with these plates they have good protection especially from direct impacts from above. Chiton can also slowly curl up into a ball when it is dislodged from a surface.