This past weekend, a majority of our class ventured out into some of Washington's most pristine wild areas for learning natural history. On Saturday, we stopped at the Nisqually Delta and Mima Mounds, and on Sunday, we visited various sites throughout Mt. Rainier National Park. We were all quite happy to hear the weekend weather was going to be pretty well. It turned out to be a glorious weekend, and it was a trip I will never forget.
Stop #1: Nisqually Delta
Date: October 20, 2018
Time: Approximately 10 AM-1 PM
Weather: Cloudy, windy
Temperature: High 40s to low 50s degrees Fahrenheit
The first stop was at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, a restoration area for bird watching. The Wildlife Refuge is a great place for migrating birds to rest and search for food as the Nisqually Delta has a freshwater marsh and a saltwater marsh. Not too long after arriving at the Nisqually parking lot, we say a coyote jumping and playing around with a smaller animal, possibly a rat or rabbit, in the fields nearby. It was quite fascinating when the class saw what nature is like when it is undisturbed. Then we saw an older coyote on the farther right side of the field slowly stalking a prey. The younger coyote acted similarly as a puppy with a golden brown to dark brown back with a fluffy tail, while the older coyote had a darker colored coat, almost a grey color.
After observing the coyotes and coming together in a group to talk about the history of the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, we collectively started walking on a gravel path on the way to a barn. We stopped midway to practice using the binoculars and observe bird calls and birds. The first birdcall we heard was the Northern Flicker, which is also a woodpecker. The Northern Flicker's call sounded like a high-pitched laughter. Our professor pointed out the bird with a spotted breast and pointed tail feathers. The head is grey with a red cheek, and an orange streak just above the eyes. The body is mainly brown with black spotting on the breast and black ruffled horizontal stripes across the back and wings. The Northern Flicker's diet is ants. The second bird call that we hear was the King Fisher. I wasn't able to see the King Fisher, but I heard the call as a "ch-ch-ch-ch" quick chatter call. The King Fisher is usually found near water and eats fish.
In the distance, there was a Red Tailed Hawk found on a bare tree across the field. From the naked eye, the Red Tailed Hawk is a black blob that has a chunky stature. But with the binoculars and the scope, I was able to see the Red Tailed Hawk clearly. The bird had a dark brown and white colored ruffled mix on the wings and back. The tail portion closer to the body was light brown-red mix, followed by a black line, then a white portion at the end of the tail feathers.
A sketch of the Red Tailed Hawk
While bird watching, I witnessed a Bald Eagle flying across the sky. The head and tail of the eagle was white with a bright yellow beak and feet. The body and wings was a black or dark grey color. The feathers in the wings at the tip were separated, almost flared. While flying, the wings were at the maximum length spread straight across. While in flight, the wings don't touch, the up and down movement seems to be very minimal and flaps very slowly unlike a smaller bird whose wings flap more frequently because the length of the wingspan was smaller and the up and down movement is much more greater.
A sketch of the Bald Eagle
The next location was near the barn. Everyone was warned to watch where we step as there were many Pacific Tree Frogs hiding in the grass. Everyone went searching for Pacific Tree Frogs. I found one and was surprised at how fragile the frog was. The frog I caught was light green back and head with a bumpy back and a white underbelly. On the side of the head, there was a dark brown stripe that went over the eye and in its face. The toes were really interesting, as the tips of the toes or fingers were bulbous. The bulbous feet were brown and the back of the four legs were green while the underside was white. Our professor told us that the Pacific Tree Frogs are known for their toe pads. The Pacific Tree Frog is often found in trees and on the moist ground. The sound the Pacific Tree Frogs create was like a slow creaky door as a "croak". I noticed from other students' frogs that the skin color of the frogs were a different shade of green than mine. I wonder why these color differences occur? Are they typical genetic variations, camouflage, or based on maturity?
A sketch of the Pacific Tree Frog
Pictures of the Pacific Tree Frog
There was a Western Red-Back Salamander that Laurel found and that had taken refuge in a large piece of bark. I had gotten a quick glimpse of the Western Red-Back Salamander as I saw a reddish-orange stripe along its back. The midsection of the salamander was a little rounder than the rest of the body. The stripe was from the top of the head of the salamander down to the tip of the tail. The sides of the salamander was a dark brown to black color. The legs were stubby and short. The skin of the salamander was shiny and slimy looking.
A sketch of a Western Red-Back Salamander
After frog catching, we walked together as a group slowly, searching for birds in far away trees, or in flight. We had spotted an American Kestrel on the top of a snag. I have never seen one with so many color variations on its body. The top of the head was a light blue with a black stripe along the side of the face. The tip of the beak was a light blue, then the rest of the beak was yellow. The face and neck of the American Kestrel was white. The upper back of the American Kestrel was a reddish brown and the wings were dark blue with black spotting The tail portion that was closest to the body was brown, followed by a thick stripe of black, then the ends of the tail was white. Our professor told us that the American Kestrel was the smallest falcon and the smallest raptor. The American Kestrel was a small bird of prey. The wings are very short, and it has a 'V-shaped' notch on the upper mandible.
A sketch of an American Kestrel
Walking forward again, there was a Northern Harrier flying low near the ground. The Northern Harrier has a bright white rump, which makes identifying the Northern Harrier easier. The Northern Harrier is also a raptor with a slender body. The head is a grey brown color with a black bill. The body is mainly brown with a mixture of white embedded in the feathers. The tail end of the Northern Harrier has a large white portion followed by a dark brown tail feather end. We also spotted a Short-eared Owl, which apparently to our professor, was a rarity. The eyes were golden and piercing. The back of the owl had a spotting similarly to a moth. The professor told us that the Short-eared Owl is not nocturnal and creates its nest on the grown. The face of the owl was flat and heart-shaped with a brown outline. The beak was grey. The breast of the Short-eared Owl was mainly white with brown singular streaks throughout the breast and the back of the owl is a mixture of brown and white. The way the Short-eared Owl flies was incredibly majestic. It was silent and smooth. The wingspan of the owl was larger than I had expected. The owl mainly soared through the sky rather than flapping continuously.
A sketch of a Northern Harrier A sketch of a Short-eared Owl
Not too long after witnessing the Short-eared owl fly and land, we witnessed a Great Blue Heron glide through the air and land. Unlike how other birds fly, the legs of the heron is longer and skinnier and is unable to be 'tucked' into the body like other birds with shorter legs. The legs of the heron trails behind the body. On the way back, we saw the Great Blue Heron was looking for food. As it was looking for food, there was a neck wiggle and a leg raised partially. The feathers on the Great Blue Heron was a greyish blue color. On the top of the head, there was a white spot, then a black portion on the crown of the head. The bill of the Great Blue Heron is a bright orange.
Pictures and a sketch of the Great Blue Heron
Along the way back, the professor spotted a patch of Pickleweed. It is usually grown in saltwater marshes. The roots uptake the salt, which is then secreted out of the stem. The taste of the pickleweed was salty. The stems of the pickleweed looks similarly to coral. At the fork of the road, the group spotted a Peregrine Falcon. The professor told us that the Peregrine Falcon is one of the largest falcon and the fastest bird in the world. The Peregrine falcon will hunt shorebirds midflight. The wings are pointed, the feet are an orangey yellow color, and the base of the bill is yellow. The back and the wings of the Peregrine Falcon is blue with black spotting. The top of the head was blue with a sideburn as black. The breast is a white-ish grey color with black spotting. There are color morphs of the Peregrine Falcon.
A sketch of the Peregrine Falcon
Along the small pond there was a Virginia Rail. The professor explained that the Virginia Rail are usually secretive, so it was a rare sighting of the Virginia Rail. The colors of the birds was a mixture of pastels, and are typically found in dense cat tails and grasses. The tummy was a deep red color and typically eat snails, eggs, and invertebrates. These birds are also opportunistic hunters. In front of the Virginia Rail, there were Mallard ducks dabbling and eating algae.
It was interesting---The throngs of waterfowl I observed occurred in safety in numbers. The estuary is an expansive, open space where predators, such as coyotes and predatory birds, would have not trouble spotting and catching prey. Despite this danger, the Nisqually estuary offers numerous and nutrient rich food sources, which during the colder seasons seem to be essential for these birds' survival and too important to forego for tight security. yet, the birds combat this loss of security by assembly into masses and thus lessening each bird's probability of capture, and allowing for a stronger alarm system. With more eyes watching, there is a better chance of spotting of a threat and subsequent escape.
Some of the plant life at Nisqually also caught my eye. Along the oxbow and the estuary, I noticed a large number o f Red Alders and Bigleaf Maple. I found this interesting because the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge did not resemble its larger vegetation zone, the Western Hemlock zone. Although the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge could be considered as a regular exception within its vegetation zone, I think that the presence of tree species that often grow in disturbed areas illustrates otherwise. The Nisqually estuary, after all, was used as a farm in the past, and it is likely that it underwent extensive human modification that changed its vegetation patterns. Bigleaf Maples and Red Alders especially are some of the earliest plant species to return after a major disturbance to an area. If the larger sizes of the trees I observed correlate well with their ages, the it could suggest that most major disturbances in the Nisqually estuary stopped a while ago. If this is true, it is possible that these trees are paving the way for the restoration of the more typical vegetation found in the Western Hemlock Zone.
Stop #2: Mima Mounds
Date: October 20, 2018
Time: Approximately 2:30 PM-4PM
Weather: Cloudy, windy, some sun
Temperature: Low to mid 50s degrees Fahrenheit
One of the most remarkable sites we visited on our trip was the Mima Mounds Prairie, which represents the Douglas Fir/Oregon White Oak Zone that is found in select places throughout the Southern Puget Trough.
A thumbnail sketch of Mima Mounds Prairie and a photo of the landscape.
These mounds were some of the strangest geological formations that I have ever encountered. Each mound looks congruent to the next, as well as arranged in a uniform pattern. Multiple hypotheses have been proposed to explain the peculiar nature of these mounds, however, I found none of them to be entirely sufficient. Based on the mounds’ typical profiles, the area’s glacial history, and its soil and gravel deposits, it seems that the mounds must have a glacial origin; however, the precise nature of their formation remains elusive. The Mima Mounds lie at the furthest extent of the Vashon Ice Sheet, which covered the Puget Sound around 16,000 years ago. Due to the rounded nature of the rocks found at the mounds and the presence of glacial outwash deposits in the area, it appears plausible that the mounds may have been carved by meltwater streams emerging from the Vashon Ice Sheet. Glaciers scour massive amounts of rock material from the landscape and deposit it either as till when they advance or recede, or as outwash through their meltwater channels. Stream braiding, or the development of multiple stream channels, is a common response among rivers that receive massive influxes of sediment, from, for example, a glacier. The distribution of the mounds may attest to a potential origin from the erosion of braiding sediment laden meltwater channels protruding from the Vashon Ice Sheet.
I was fairly confident in my observations and conclusions of Mima mounds until we visited a cross section of a mound. This was very curious. The mound’s lower strata were composed of glacial outwash deposits, which, like other water borne sediments, demonstrate a horizontal deposition. However, the overlying soil profile was not flat, but curved! To me, this suggests that large portions of the soil were eroded after its development to form the characteristic bowl-shaped hummocks throughout the prairie. But, soil development is a very slow process and it seems like erosion of the soil would have occurred long after the retreat of the Vashon Ice Sheet, thus, eliminating its potential effects upon the geomorphology of the mounds.
After seeing this, I have to say that I can confidently say that I have no remote idea as to how these mounds formed. It is plausible that seismic activity deformed the soil layers into their curved profiles, but if that were the case, I'm not sure why there wouldn't be similar formations at other seismically active areas. For now, I’ll hold onto the possibility that these mounds have a glacial origin, due to the clear evidence of glacial activity in the area. Maybe some obscure glacial process is responsible for the Mima mounds, but of what this process is, I am unsure.
At the beginning, there was a baby Garter snake that was found at the Mima mounds. The snake was uniformly thing then tapers off in the end of the tail. On the back, there is a stripe that is yellow, as well as the sides of the body however, there are black portions that is between the yellow stripe and the yellow sides. The stripe begins from the top of the head down to the tip of the tail. At the mounds, there were some gilled-cap mushrooms, porous-capped mushrooms, Shield Lichen, and Coastal Reindeer Lichen. The unknown gilled mushroom #1 was a light brown color with a dark brown centering approximately 1 inch in diameter. The white stem varied in length, but the diameter was quite thin. The unknown gilled mushroom #2 was a peachy-brown colored stem and cap. There was a moldy porous cap mushroom. The cap was quite thick in height. The bottom of the cap, there was a yellow spongey porous bottom with mold growing at the edges of the cap. The Coastal Reindeer Lichen occurred in bunches between the mounds
A sketch of a Garter Snake
An unknown gilled mushroom #1
Shield Lichen
Abandoned wasp or bee hive piece
Unknown moldy porous mushroom
Unknown gilled mushroom #2
Coastal Reindeer Lichen
Stop #3, 4, 5: Mt. Rainier National Park
Locations: Kautz Creek, Twin Firs, Paradise Road Bridge, Paradise
Date: Sunday, October 21, 2018
Time: Approximately 9:30AM-4PM
Weather: cloudy, and sunny
Temperature: High 40s to low 60s
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| Douglas Fir with soil covering over half of the trunk |
On Sunday, we made several stops throughout Mt. Rainier National Park. We first visited the forest surrounding Kautz Creek. I noticed Red Alder, Douglas Fir, and some western red cedar, and western hemlock saplings growing in the understory. All of the trees looked fairly short, meaning that they were likely young in age. The presence of alder and Douglas fir further implied that the area had been riddled by a recent disturbance. There were also western red cedar snags and salal, which is generally indicative of poor soil. In fact, the forest floor lacked a distinctive soil layer, and there were conspicuous moss covered boulders scattered amongst the trees. Eventually, Tim told us that this forest was growing upon debris flow deposits from the 1947 Kautz Creek debris flow. How fascinating! I can’t believe that we were able to deduce a portion of this forest’s past by merely observing its basic characteristics. It’s amazing what detailed observation can uncover. Before this trip, I never considered the possibility of using plant life in an area to uncover its history.
We made another stop along the Twin Firs trail to get a glimpse at the characteristics of old-growth forests in the Western Hemlock zone. This forest was noticeably different than the younger forest we had seen earlier at Pack Forest. Its trees were less densely packed and its canopy uneven, which subsequently allowed for greater light infiltration and needle growth on lower branches.
There was a greater size range in the trees as well—I saw some saplings growing in the understory, trees of intermediate size, and massive trees of great heights and wide trunks. Lots of these larger trees were missing their tops, which were snapped off in windstorms. There were large snags throughout the forest, and other dead trees that had assumed roles as nurse logs.
Looking at the nurse log made me consider the extent of the roles that members of an ecosystem have. An organism’s death does not mean that it is automatically eliminated from an ecosystem. Upon death, it merely undertakes a new role. I has seen a similar example of this earlier at Kautz Creek, where a western redcedar snag was riddled with holes from woodpeckers. In its death, it had provided nourishment to other members of the ecosystem. I also came across Witch's Hair Lichen on flowing on the branches of trees, two unknown mushrooms, and Devil's Club.
Nurse Log photo and thumbnail sketch
Witch's Hair Lichen
Unknown Mushroom #1
Unknown Mushroom #2
Devil's Club
Our final two stops on Sunday were at Paradise Road Bridge and the Nisqually Glacier. These two stops fit nicely together, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of the upper Nisqually River system. From the bridge, we were able to see a typical portion of the upper Nisqually River. The river’s channels ran through a rather steep and narrow glacially carved valley. On the steepest portions of the valley walls, there was little to no vegetation, but along more stable areas of the valley I saw some red alders, Douglas fir, and other unidentified species. I would imagine that the soil along the upper Nisqually River would not be rich in nutrients due to flooding and its fairly recent glaciation, thus explaining the presence of red alder and Douglas fir.
Landscape sketch from the Paradise Road Bridge
Hiking up Mt. Rainier was difficult, with a backpack and the sun beaming down on us, and the layers that I wore. When the group stopped at a location, we spotted a white speck, representing a mountain goat. Then we continued down a narrow pathway to the location of where we saw from the Paradise Road Bridge. There was very little vegetation in the location we stayed at. The vegetation was mainly very small patches of small shrubs. These shrubs must be very resistant to harsh weather, and the little amount of water that is rained there yearly. The shrubs must also have a very strong root system to keep the plant stable.
A sketch of an unknown shrub
Landscape sketch of Rainier Moraine
