ENVIR280 Journals: Journal #1- Getting to know my site

Formative Experience of Nature

When I was younger, every summer, my family would go camping and hiking. There was one time that I remember quite vividly. I was 9 years old, and my brother was 7 years old, and my family went to camp in Yellowstone in July 2009. The experience was like none other. My dad was driving, I looked out the window and saw green blobs passing by. Approaching the site, Madison Campgrounds had free-roaming bison, coyotes, deer, elks, bears, squirrels, chipmunks, and so much more. Though my mom, as protective as a mother should, was quite nervous, she allowed my brother and I to wander and look around. Together, we walked around the camp ground and saw a deer with her fawn eating a patch of grass, bison roaming around slowly. This was incredibly fascinating for us, as we saw most of these animals in the zoos and this was our first time watching from the animal’s natural habitat. Quietly, my brother and I walked away, making sure not to disturb the animals. At night, my mom would sandwich my brother and I in the middle of the tent while my parents slept on the outer sides of the tent, in fear, that if a bear were to attack, the bear would first get one of the parents. As weird and gruesome as that is, Yellowstone was by far my favorite campground.

Another memory that I have that is more recent was when my family hiked the Grand Canyon. This was during the summer of August, the year of 2016. My family hiked the Bright Angel Trail along the South Rim. The trail was about a 12-mile round trip. We began in the morning when the temperature was still somewhat cool. On the way towards the ground level, there were animals along the trails. Occasionally, there would be a small snake either basking in the sun, or hiding in the shade between some rocks, or there were chipmunks running together, picking at dropped cracker crumbs, or drinking water from the water spout at the rest stops. Birds flew above us in the sky. The sun was incredibly bright, the birds were hard to distinguish. Hiking down there was very little vegetation until you reach the ‘ground level’ of the canyon. At the ground level, there was flowers, trees, cacti, and grass. There was even a flowing river! It teased us with the flowing water. The Grand Canyon was beautiful in its vast rocky beauty.

The effects of natural history never really crossed my mind however, now looking at my memories of camping and hiking with my family, I can see some changes. There were some changes in the landscape, the animals and the plants that live in that general area, and it will continue to change. I’m taking this class because it will help reignite my love for nature and to get in touch with the natural history of the place that I have lived all my life, the place that I call home. Understanding the changes and why it is happening will, as well as observing is something I hope to learn and continue to learn as I continue my path of life.

Observations: Mill Creek Nature Preserve

The Mill Creek Nature Preserve entrance

On October 2^nd, 2018 at 2:30 pm, I went to the Mill Creek Nature Preserve. The temperature was about 52 degrees Fahrenheit. The weather was scattered sprinkles of rain, cloudy with a little bit of wind in the SSE direction in 0.3 miles per hour. The air was cold, yet fresh. The air felt icy and crisp against my skin and smelled of mud since it had just previously sprinkled before my arrival. At the site, there were very little sounds from animals, some ducks quacking and some crows cooing, however, there was a background sound of a small waterfall from the Penny Creek fish bearing stream. While standing quietly at the site, there were not a lot of animals running about except for four ducks swimming in the pond and searching for food, crows eyeing me suspiciously from the branches of the tall trees around me, and a spider waiting for its prey to fly into the spider’s web. The ducks found on the pond were Mallard ducks. There were three ducks that had green heads that luminescent of blue and purple at certain angles with black eyes, and a thin white stripe that circled around the base of their neck, and one duck had a light-dark brown head with black eyes, a dark brown stripe overlapping the eye. The bodies of the ducks were plump. The ducks with the green head had white, grey, and a small portion of the luminescent blue purple color feathers along the back of the duck and a large brown portion in the front of the chest of the duck, while the duck with the light brown and dark brown head’s body had the same color scheme throughout the entire body. The bills of the green ducks were yellow, and the bill of the light and dark brown duck was a grey and brown mixture color.

Closer view of Mallard ducks (Anus platyrhynchos) swimming and looking for food

Distant view of Mallard ducks swimming and looking for food

The spider that was on the web was an Argiope trifasciata, also known as the banded garden spider. These spiders are very common. The banded garden spider has brown and white banded stripes crossing the legs and body. The legs are thin and long, while the body is shaped like a spinning top. The banded garden spider was found on its web between two trees near the pond.

Sketch of Crow and Argiope trifasciata

Two different angles from the pond (50 sq. m view)

All around me, there were trees, small shrubs, some blackberry bushes, and other plants that I don’t exactly know. However, there was one plant that caught my eye. The plant was a Common Jewelweed. It was orange, red and yellow, with red spotting. The body of the flowering plant was the shape of an ice cream cone, but more rounded at the bottom tip, and the face of the flower, the bottom looks like a swollen red bottom lip, and the top is a normal plump lip. In between the face of the flower’s bottom swollen lip and normal plump lip, is a hole that enters the ‘mouth’ of the plant.

Side and front view of Common Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis)

The leaves on the plants were mainly green, but some are beginning to wither with some brown spots. The leaves on the trees were still green, but there were some fallen leaves that were yellow and brown. The ground was quite muddy and moist from the previous rain fall that happened not too long before my arrival. When I dug around, my nostrils were filled with the smell of dirt and dead leaves, and I found some worms squiggling down deeper into the earth trying to get away from me exposing them. The worms were pink, long and skinny, with light rings all around its body.