Heron Rookery

March 29, 2012

This day was particularly rainy even for Seattle’s weather standards. 100% heavy cloud cover, low 50s, but little wind. Luckily, our class stood under a canopy of conifers near a heron rookery on the University of Washington campus. This was the first field day outside of a classroom to gain knowledge and begin practicing our plant identification, field notebook writing, and probably getting us ready to be outside this weekend on Mt. Rainier. The area overall has little foot traffic, but it is public. The ground is 70% covered in English ivy while the larger trees that created the boundary to the rookery were western red cedar, and douglas fir. The English ivy was brought over by the European settlers early on and quickly spread through any area they occupy; they are an invasive species. If growing on a tree, they often choke the tree of sunlight and in a sense steal its nutrients. Directly above where we stood were about 10-15 Great Blue Herons’ nests, on deciduous trees currently without leaves, with a couple flowering plants blooming below. The Great Blue Heron is a migratory bird that often settles in wetlands and their call is loud and somewhat scary…but unique. Someone commented that they sound like dinosaurs.

Species List:
Douglas Fir
Western Red Cedar
English Ivy
Great Blue Heron

Publicado el mayo 1, 2012 04:51 TARDE por lhuynh10