Observations by akumar

for context, see daily account #19- west duwamish greenbelt walking trail on 6/4. i saw this banana slug on my way out, which looked like it was in a gigantic dandelion plant (all of the plants here were enormous). i'm not completely sure of the classification, i knew it wasn't a pacific banana slug which has a very particular pattern, and while slender banana slugs are usually yellow, they can also come in brown- so this seemed like the most plausible identification.

for context, see daily account #15. this was a large black crow that i caught sitting on what i think is a douglas fir tree outside my house. a number of them came out because we put some food (english muffin) outside, which attracted these crows and a few eastern gray squirrels. the crows would fly and sometimes hop over, grab some food- not before looking around suspicously, and then fly it away to consume it.

for context, please see daily account #15. this is an eastern gray squirrel eating some english muffin in my backyard. i saw a few climbing around plum trees and western red cedars in my yard before they came down to eat food. two of them grabbed food and ran away to eat it, and one stayed, undisturbed by me, nibbling away at her grains. they seem to be nearly as friendly in residential areas (at least near my house) as on campus, as i remember feeding them from my hands when i was growing up.

for context, see daily account #15. these violets were not currently blooming, but i see them take over patches of my parents' garden every year. the small purple flowers that come out exactly resemble the ones for Viola odorata. the leaves are shaded and heart-shaped, and they tend to take over areas that have shade and that are home to other weeds, such as stinky bob and dandelions.

for context, see daily account #15. i'm fairly certain this is a different species of horsetail from the more common Equisetum arvense (common horsetail) which has much narrow and more dense leafing. this horsetail had rather sparse, long leaves (do they have a different name than leaves?) that came out in opposite branching in groups of ten. the specimens i found growing under a rhododenron tree in my house were probably only 8-10" tall.

for context see daily account #15. we have numerous foxglove plants and just confirmed that we've never planted a single one. but they're so beautiful that you can't get rid of them all! they are usually found in bunches in different parts of the yard, growing anywhere from 2-6' long. they are currently flowering. i didn't see bees or any other pollinators in the flowers this morning, but it may have been too cold.

for context see Daily Account #15. i saw bumblebees pollinating rhododendron trees that were in full bloom. i don't know what kind of bees they are, so i looked up "bumblebees found in north america" and ventured to say it was Bombus rufocinctus based on the region it's found and the distinctive, thick orange band on its lower half. if you have any other suggestions, i'd be happy to know!

for context, see Daily Account #15. the buttercup this most closely resembled to me was the creeping buttercup, Ranunculus repens, although there are roughly 600 species in that genus. i saw these buttercups growing in numerous parts of the yard, usually in close proximity to other plants- either grasses or otherwise. these were packed in with some stinky bob and poppies.

for context, see Daily Account #15. today i decided to walk around my parents' backyard to see what wild or native plants i could find, since they have a huge yard with a number of overgrown areas. one of the plants i saw growing near some sword fern and a few other intentionally planted plants was pacific bleeding heart. they were a pale pink and currently flowering.

for context, see Daily Account on 4/1 for Nisqually Delta Restoration. grazing on the grass on either side of the gravel trail adjacent to the boardwalk were some canadian geese. i recently learned that you commonly find canadian geese in areas with manicured or short grass (like public parks or nice lawns) because it's easy access to food/easily digestable and also helps them keep a greater eye out for predators.

for context, see daily account for 3/31 at Pack Forest. this type of lichen resembles coral and is a whitish blue color. this particular lichen was on a dead branch of a madrone tree, but they cover most of the trees found in this area and are usually paired with one or two other types of lichen.

for context, please see daily account for Carkeek Park on 4/8. the largeleaf avens was an extremely common plant in the understory of the areas i was walking around the park. there was also a lot of stinky bob and what i think was bracken fern (and maybe some lady fern) characterizing the understory as well. the largeleaf avens was not flowering at this time.

i saw this incredibly beautiful bird walking on the cobblestone path in pike place market, and then i saw some again near the UW farm on campus earlier this quarter. unfortunately, i spent a while trying to figure out what it might possibly be and wasn't able to come close to identifying it. if anyone knows what kind of bird this is, i would love to know! it has a beautiful, metallic, multicolored body with dark greens and purples and black, and each feather was clipped in gold. its legs were a reddish color.