A Be-eee-A-you-T-full Day

What a day for phenology!  The sun was shining and the wind was barely blowing. Spring was here, the birds, kids, and all the other animals were all active this day. It was a Friday morning to be exact and I started with my sound tapestry. The last time we were out there the colors of the trees and ground were very dull and mundane. As I was listening to all the creatures I could hear each of them moving around looking for food and such. The beautiful spring colors are ripening and everything is coming back to life. Everything around me was more active. There were children playing at the park,dogs barking, and birds roaming the area. I noticed that fish were way more active, now that the water is warmer, I get to see them more often due to this change. My update on the muskrat is I was looking around his den and there were multiple tracks going to and from his home so I know that spring is bringing him out. It was a nice to lay down and listen to all the creature go about themselves. The color of my tree has changed just over a week with yellows and dark browns interlacing .I have leaves back on my tree again also. This is what phenology is all about, noticing all the changes around us and recognizing why that change occurred.

Chase's Post

I like going out and doing phenology a lot more now that its actually decent weather.. even though most of my notes look the same. When we went out last Friday (the 23rd i think) i collected some good quality data! All of the giant cottonwood trees around my area had little buds growing on the branches that had been bare the last time i saw them. The grass on the banks of the creek was fresh and green and you could see it staring to spread up higher around the hill. Also, it looked like someone had scooped out all the nasty leaves and smelly debris from the creek because it was about 6 inches deeper than before and way more clear too. The sun was brightly shining and there was a slight breeze. About half way into the time we were out there i was suprised by a mallard duck as it waddled over and poked around in the creek. It was fun to sit there and watch as it was duckin around in the water..

I just learned something new!

Geuss what? I just learned something new about nature. I was wondering why there were still leaves on the ground so I asked my question to the world wide web and was redirected. Apparently If you leave your leaves on the ground it will kill your grass. That only happens if you can't see the grass through the leaves and it makes like a mat on the ground. But if you clear your leaves you are stripping the ground of part of it's insulation force for winter. So apparently the right thing to do with your leaves before winter if to clear most of them and leave the rest for compost. After learning this my question was why haven't the leaves composted? I still see some lying around in my phenology site. I do remember Mrs. Lord talking about something to do with the leaves and how they won't compost because the grass is different then what was originally there. I don't know if I recited that correctly but I guess she was right the leaves are still here. I guess we should of raked the leaves in our sites and then Eft some in prodder to preserve nature. Ahh! Another thought maybe if our compost works out we could dump the end result in our phenology sites to renutrition nature. That actually sounds like a good idea! Please comment back and tell me what you think about that idea and wether or not it would even work out.

Don't point your finger at me quite yet!

I know I know it makes you people mad when people post things in the same day but I got to write this down before I forget. I have been noticing a change in bird activity lately during my visits to the realm of nature. Mostly the noise level has changed drastically from the winter months. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems now that the weather is getting warm again the noise level is rising. Maybe it's because the birds migrated, maybe the birds have been preserving energy in order to survive winter, maybe the birds are just happy it's warm, maybe it's because it's mating season? I don't really know. Now before you people start pointing your fingers at me and calling me crazy just hold on. I am now going to the Google search engine to ask my query. And the results of Google are the following titles in order. Boisterous Blue Jays Chickens Losing Feathers Where Do Birds Sleep at Night And my favorite How to keep you neighbor quiet So much for Google, oh well seems that I'm just going to have to take the maybes above and just assume that one of them is right. The Internet needs to get on board with science and help us people who don't understand everything about it. It could also be how I worded my question. So anyway please comment back and give me you opinion on why the birds are noisy again. :) this is a serious query, no joke.

A change of reflection

The last time we did phenology as a class was Friday, March 22. It was by far the best Phenology experience yet, the sun was out creating a summer-like atmosphere but with a small cool breeze creating the feeling of spring. This visit into the world of nature wasn't the best just because the weather, it was also because of the amount of time we had. I think using a normal class period was much more effective then doing Phenology in a shorter amount of time. I did all the normal requirements for this project while out in nature, I did the sound tapestry right off the bat and was glad I did after a noisy gym class strolled by. My problem was the fact that after completing the sound tapestry I was left in a mostly quiet piece of nature. That's great every once in a while but after spending the whole period out there I felt something lacking. So next time we go into the nature I'm going to bring along my iPod . You are probably going what are you crazy?! Nope I'm not crazy and my reasons for my madness lie in the fact that I I can fell more emotionally if I am aided with music. Music is an emotional tool, it shapes how we perceive things so next time I'm going to just go for it and see what happens. I theorize that my mind will be more focused and my thoughts will be more...in depth. Who knows maybe I'm completely losing my mind and should just stop this post now but I feel that it could make things more interesting so who knows? I hope you understand where I'm coming from if not then call me crazy!

First Video Post!

Legions

I have definitely fallen behind in my posts for this March and February but this is my post for March 23rd. I am trying a slightly different format for this post hoping that it will make it slightly easier to post all that I wish to.

Sunrise: 7:10am - Sunset: 7:31 - Air Temp.: 13c - H2O Temp.: 9c

Weather- Sunny with part cloud cover, and a slight breeze from the north, which I have noted usually indicates a cold front coming in from the Pacific and colder weather is about to hit.

General Observations- The creek seemed shockingly lower than usual today. The grass growth along the bank is becoming very prominent, a stark green to a dull muted gold of its surrounding banks. In a general estimation I would probably say that the color differentiation of the dead to the newly growing is 20%. I'm sure that with the warm weather we have been having will spike that growth.

Also in conjunction with this lovely weather has come the emergence of legions of bugs hatching and emerging from the stream. In the right light they appear almost to represent swarms of lightning bugs glittering over the stream. Thus far I am fairly confident that they are just Mayfly Nymphs hatching, no mesquites yet.

It is amazing how fast the buds on the trees are coming along this year, already the willows are turning color to support their growth and the elm and ash trees are growing little budd balls on their upper branches.

Sound Tapestry- As far as my sound tapestry is concerned the park was pretty normal. Just consisting of the normal children, cars, creek, and a new sound; birds. They must be beginning to form their nests because their songs can be heard through the entire park. A definite sign that Summer is right around the corner.