Daily Observations

Sphagnum Moss

I went for a walk today. The route I took went along the flume pipe, then up to the SJ gravel quarry. From there I cut down through the muskeg to Indian River Trail and walked back home.

Weather: Low clouds moved in over the last couple of days. Today it rained a bit and temperatures were in the mid-50s. There was a little bit of a breeze when I was on my walk, but not very much.

Birds: There were several juncos quite actively singing along the muskeg not far from where the Cross Trail crosses the quarry road. They were making calls I didn’t recognize, so I might try to get back there in the next couple of days with recording equipment, though I’m not sure if they will still be so vocal then.

I also saw a Lincoln’s Sparrow, a thrush (probably Hermit), Steller’s Jay, Robin, and Raven while in the muskeg area along the quarry road.

I heard hummingbirds several times, but the only two I saw were perched on top of fairly tall dead trees in muskegs. They sat there for awhile, but I’m not sure why.

Flora: When I saw all the flowers blooming, I was feeling like I should have been out a couple of days ago. Many of the flowers were past their prime, and the rains of the last day or so didn’t do them any favors.

The flowers that seemed to be furthest along were Cloudberry and Three-leaf Goldthread. Northern Starflowers were also blooming. Bog Rosemary and Alpine Azalea were just getting started, though there were several blooms showing. Bog Laurel had flower buds, but I did not see any actual blooms.

I noticed on some of the Crowberries that little berries were already starting to form. I did see several flowers this year, but I didn’t see any obvious means by which the flowers were polinated. They are very small and inconspicuous, but the berries are so abundant, that it leads me to think they must get successfully polinated without too much trouble (I’m assuming that polination is required for berries to form).

Stream Violets were still abundant along Indian River Trail.

Other Notes:

I started a rather ambitious project that I’m calling the 1000 Species Project. It will have its own weblog.

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