Phenology!!!!!!!:) :) :)

Phenology 1st Semester: 
During phenology we covered many different aspects of our sites in Pioneer Park -- water being one. It was cool learning about how water is warmer then the air around it.  One of the days the air temperature was -4 and the water temperature was 3 degrees Celsius. I never knew that, I always assumed that the water temperature would be cooler than the air. 

Another interesting thing about my site is how little the moss changed. Now your thinking moss? Yes moss, most of the stream located in my site has big clumps of moss. It always stayed a consistent green which I found really surprising, always assumed in the beginning that eventually the moss would die.

The sound tapestry was nice to partake in...so many sounds we don't realize are there until we stop and listen to our surroundings. December 2nd was an especially exciting day in the world of sound, on this day we noted that there was a drill going off somewhere in the nearby surroundings, then we realized that it happened to be the school fire alarm. I also notice all the other sounds that a city makes.

Drawing a detailed picture of something in our sites added to the learning process by forcing us to focus on one thing in detail.  After completing the drawings you can appreciate nature's detail a lot more. A simple blade of grass is so detailed!

Something that bugged me during phenology was the amount of trash that kept showing up in my site -- a beautiful piece of landscape ruined by a brightly colored can and some candy wrappers. People these days are so lazy! Pick up your mess!

Now onto a new semester full of new and fun phenology observations!!!!!!! :) 

Intro To My Phenology

Fascination with the unknown has always been a contributing factor to the peoples thought process of needing to know everything that is going on around us. We seek out to know what we do not, because we do not take comfort in the feeling of the unknown.

Take nature for instance, we are fascinated by shows on Animal Planet, Planet Earth, etc. , because we want to know more about our earth and we want it to be presented to us in the simplest and most captivating way possible. This is in some part what I am hoping to accomplish in my section of this blog. I will admit that I cannot possibly cover everything that there is to know about my site in Pioneer Park, but I will try to fill you in on the things that are fascinating to me, and things that others should be fascinated to know. If there is anything that I have learned during our semester of Phenology, it is that sometimes we do not think to try and understand what is going on right in front of our noses.

About twice a month we go out to Pioneer Park to observe our respective Phenological sites along the creek. We observe the time of day, sunset/rise, and the water/air temperatures. We are guided to do one sketch per visit and to record any sounds that we are hearing. The rest of the period is spent making our own observations individually.

During my visits to the park I tend to focus on one specific subject that is occurring, and then ask questions and observe that subject for the remainder of the visit. In my entries following on this blog I am going to address some of these specific subjects and to inform you on what is going on in our very own Pioneer park.

The Weeping Tree

My phenology site is located at the very end of the creek where the metal grate thing is. I want to tell you about the weeping tree that is in my site. It is sooo cool no matter if it has rained or snowed or anything for a few days this tree is wet from the ground to about half way up the tree. I have came to a thought that maybe the tree is pulling water from the creek but I'm not positive. Anyways I will keep the blog updated on this really cool tree once spring comes because it's frozen right now.


Cree