Week 10: All Good Things Must Come to an End

Date: Sunday, June 9, 2013

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Temperature: 43ºF

Time: 9:00 AM -10:00 AM

Location: Union Bay Natural Area, Seattle, WA

Today is a day to explore the intersection of language and natural history – as a result, a game of taboo. Below are three organisms that I will describe without scientific terminology, can you guess what they are?

Mystery Organism #1

Some may call it a poor man’s Christmas decoration centerpiece, but it is only found near water. It sits upright and has stripes as a zebra would, but when mature, it has needles sticking out from every which way.

Answer: Giant Horsetail, Equisetum telmateia

Mystery Organism #2

It perches up high, scouring the premises, and guarding its territory. If something is amiss, a flash of red appears, and a jet black figure swoops in. Fueled by testosterone, aggressive behavior ensues.

Answer: Red-Winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus

Mystery Organism #3

Plagued by seasonal affective disorder, this organism craves the sun. In fact, morning to night, it can be found sunbathing. It is a professional when it comes to hide and seek, especially in the mud, but sometimes it has trouble hiding its fondness for bright yellow.

Answer: Eastern Painted Turtle, Chrysemys picta picta

How did you do? Perhaps this gave you a new perspective to natural history or to the organisms themselves!

As the title of the post suggests, this is the final blog post of the quarter. Throughout this quarter my site has continued to surprise me with phenological changes and overturned my misconception that natural history required stepping out of the boundaries of the city. In fact, the accurate practice of natural history is more dependent on the person executing it rather than the specific location or size of location. While Seattle is a unique kind of city, I was surprised by how much the Puget Sound Region had to offer in terms of wildlife and its rich geological history. Many of the well-known phenomena (or stereotypes) like the weather patterns of the Puget Sound, can be explained by an understanding of natural history. Knowing a natural place requires keen observation, but also repeated observation. One might think of the natural place as a person. To know a person well, one must continually interact with them and sometimes figuratively “dig deep” for knowledge. To know someone better, one can broaden the scale and get to know their other friends and family. The same goes with intimately knowing a natural place. It is a dynamic and long-term process and often, the more you get to know, the more appreciation and awe you hold. It requires a lot of hands-on interaction (e.g. turning over logs or moving thickets) and an open attitude. Knowing a place well can then be enhanced by scientific knowledge, which can fuel a greater passion and understanding of the location –as long as a desire for discovery persists.

A final look at my UBNA observation site.