Union Bay Natural Area
low 60's
partially sunny
partial cloud cover
low wind
Today we learned about types of fungi and forbs available for observation on the UW campus. It is very hard to identify fungi, but we were on our tour able to see a wide variety of different classes and species of fungi in the union bay natural area to the east of campus. It was a mild spring day just after a medium rain shower the day before, so the mushrooms and fungi were in close to ideal conditions for observation, and many juvenile and adult specimens were growing (see the pleated inkcap for an example). I'm not sure if I got the spellings right for these species, so I have added them to ID please so someone could correct my spelling if it is incorrect.
Forbs came directly after, and we learned about different flowering plants in the Union Bay Natural Area, including Morning Glory, tall buttercups, common dandelions and skunk cabbage, which I didn't know was a flowering plant until I found out where the flowers actually are on the structure. The tour also went over the pollinators each plant tries to attract and how they are pollinated. The plants the tour went over are almost all flowering angiosperms that rely on pollinating in at least some capacity for reproduction and breeding, in comparison to all of the tours so far this was much more prominent in each station of the tour. There were also a lot more examples in the Union Bay Natural Area than in other parts of campus, so it is most likely the best place, at least in this season, to observe a multitude of native or adapted fungi and forbs on campus.
Union Bay Natural Area
Mids 60's
very little cloud cover
sunny/partially cloudy
Mid afternoon
no precipitation
The tour started with birds, and we were able to see both examples of nests and many species that make their home in the Union Bay Natural Area and the water surrounding it. We saw two types of swallow hunting together, mallards and their ducklings, american robins, hummingbirds, Canadian geese, crows and Red Wing Blackbirds, as well as a bald Eagle late in the tour. I heard song sparrows as well as seagulls and many other unidentified species as well. Most of the species on land near the campus were smaller species, but some larger species were seen farther out, too far to photograph but could be seen and identified by the group through binoculars.
The waterfowl tour went over some specific species that you could observe in the Union Bay Natural Area but were not present at the time. The ones that were present were different types of ducks and ducklings in the ponds surrounding by trees, and waterfowl far out on the bay that were barely visible. This tour was the most visually appealing, as it went over different behaviors and the specimens moved and showed different actions. This also made it harder to observe and identify the specimens, as they would not stay still and let you pick them up like plants do or let you take samples as trees and plants do.