Burke Gilman Trail 4/16/12

Coordinates: Lat. 47.65298
Lon. -122.32842

Weather: Strong south western winds and therefore swiftly moving clouds, but nearly full sun. 50 degrees F or so.

2:30pm-- The Burke Gilman trail (between 35th and 36th) is lined on the west side with a raised planted section above a sort of rock wall. The section appears to have been planted with native plants, mostly large shrubs probably meant to be hardy and prevent erosion onto the path. Other plants have of course snuck in. The ground is covered in wood-chips, perhaps to insulate the soil? Many birds are making noise in the trees lining the path, and picking about among the shrubs. I am first drawn to pull over my bike next to a number of larger (.5m tall) shrubs that I can't identify at bike-speed. They appear evergreen, with thick waxy leaves and short woody stems. Every shrub has one or two flowers- bunched and blue, but they don't appear at all new. Maybe left even from last year? It appears that the shrubs higher on the hill have more flowers, perhaps they receive more light?
The leaves are composed of 3 prominent veins, only about 2 cm long and 1cm wide at the center.
Beneath and around the shrubs grows dull oregon grape (Mahonia nervosa) and a number of small leaves that look not unlike parsley! Small and a very light green with slightly red tips. (See physical journal for drawing). I was completely unable to identify these little flowers until about 10m down the path I came upon a flower! A perfect bright orange poppy.
As I look down I notice many ladybugs sunning themselves on the black rocks lining the trail. They appear totally still- why would a ladybug want sun like this? Each appears to have 7 black spots- as I near them with my camera they scurry, but not all that quickly. It seems like a predator (birds??) could easily snag one. There are at least 20 ladybugs in a 2-3m area. Also little spiders crawl around on the rocks. A tiny black and white jumping spider captures my attention.

Publicado el mayo 1, 2012 05:35 MAÑANA por jesscubb jesscubb

Observaciones

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Amapola de California (Eschscholzia californica)

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Abril 16, 2012

Descripción

Along the burke I noticed a number of small plants with leaves that reminded me of carrot tops- fairly low growing and very divided. Each leaflet divides into 5 segments, each of which is further divided into 2 of 3 segments, depending on placement. The leaves were bright green with distinctly red tips. I was puzzled at identifying the plant until I walked 100 yards further and found this beautiful yellow flower- a poppy! No other buds were present on this plant, it seemed to be a very early blossom.

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Amor del Hortelano (Galium aparine)

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Abril 16, 2012

Descripción

This plant was sprawling along the edge of the Burke Gilman, seeming to grow up tall, and then fall over so as to expand horizontally. The leaves and stem were all very sticky, seemingly covered in pokey fuzz. The stem was square, consisting of 4 sharp edges, out of which grew circles of leaves at 6-9cm intervals. There were no visible flowers-- I photographed something like a bud, but I think it was more leaves, not a flower bud.

Fotos / Sonidos

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Abril 16, 2012

Descripción

These little light-brown mushrooms were growing in dense clumps out of the bark on the burke. They were quite thick for a full 20m along the trail. The mushrooms ranged from 1-3.5cm wide, though one large one was 6.5 cm across the cap. The bigger mushrooms had cracked surfaces, but the smaller ones were very smooth with white stems. The undersides of the caps were deeply gilled and had a darker brown color. The ground where they were growing is quite exposed, and not particularly wet, though the bark layer surely provides some insulation of the moisture in the soil.

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Jacinto de Los Bosques (Hyacinthoides hispanica)

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Abril 16, 2012

Descripción

I am not sure whether or not this is a botanical flower. I found it growing quite by itself (not appearing to have been planted) along the burke gilman with a number of other shrubs and sprawling plants. I thought it might be wood hyacinth, but that is a common name that didn't register with inaturalist, it could be wild hyacinth, I'm not sure of the difference between wild and wood and simple bluebells. The stems were about 25 cm tall.

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Catarina de Siete Puntos (Coccinella septempunctata)

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Abril 16, 2012

Descripción

This is one among maybe 30 ladybugs I found sunning themselves on the warm black rocks lining the burke gilman. The beetles were completely still until I approached them with my camera. They were of uniform size, and most with 6 black spots on their red backs.

Fotos / Sonidos

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Abril 16, 2012

Descripción

This dark green shrub has been planted all along the side of the burke gilman. Each bush is about 1m tall and quite thick. The leaves are about 2.5 cm long and 1 cm wide-- dark green on top with a waxy coating making them appear very shiny. The bottoms of the leaves are a lighter green with three major veins splitting them into defined segments. Some of the shrubs have a few blue flowers, but not all of them. The flowers actually appear old, could they be left from last year? or is this a winter blooming plant? The plants are otherwise totally covered in small buds that appear to be leaves, not flower buds. I wonder if they were chosen simply for aesthetic reasons or if the plants serve to help the soil from eroding down onto the trail.

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Araña Cebra (Salticus scenicus)

Observ.

jesscubb

Fecha

Abril 16, 2012

Descripción

Alongside the ladybugs, this jumping spider seemed to be sunning itself on the rocks lining the burke gilman. It moved very quickly and hurried underneath the small rock overhang when it discovered my presence.

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