Nature Observation

For this week’s assignment, we were asked to go outside and find a little nature while sitting quietly on the ground as quietly as possibly for 20 minutes. I choose to do this assignment in Silverado Canyon. This is such a gorgeous area, and everywhere you look nature is definitely present at every moment of the day.

I began this assignment on Monday morning around 8:30 in the morning, and let me just add that it was freezing outside. The clouds were a deep, dark grey which showed very high signs that rain was on its way. Every now and again the sun would shine through letting a little bit of heat out, but never lasted more then 30 seconds. The clouds were constantly moving the entire time, and about every 2 minutes a gust of wind would come through the mountains causing my body to tense up. By the end of the assignment my fingers were frozen, but all in all it was very liberating.

 During my observation, the first thing I noticed was the hawks in the sky. At first there were four flying in circles above the open mountains in search of their prey. But as time went on, and as their luck ran dry, one by one they eventually moved further and further away. Next my attention was drawn towards the bushes and shrubs surrounding the lower area of the mountains. At least twenty birds, which I believed to be sparrows of some kind were acting quit skittish. They kept a constant chirp going as they hopped and flew in and out of the bushes and shrubs, but I was never able to figure out what exactly they were doing. Although I did notice a few on the ground pecking at what seemed to be a mixture of grass, seeds, and small twigs. Throughout the entire 20 minutes, I believe I was actually able to distinguish at four different types of songs from the surrounding birds, most of which I never saw.

 About ten minutes into the assignment, the gnats (which is what I thought they were) decided that they were very interested in me. A couple of times I couldn’t take it anymore and had to shoo them away. I noticed that they never landed on me, but they sure did like to “bug” me. Taking my attention away from the gnats was another hawk. It flew directly over my head and landed in the pine tree that I was sitting under. It looked as though it was carrying a rodent of some sort because I could see a long string-like tail. I’m guessing it was a field mouse or a rat. I tried my best to get a better view but I was unsuccessful since the hawk was so high up. Plus, I didn’t want to move a lot and scare it away. With this though, I was able to distinguish one type of interaction known as predation. Predation can be defined when a member of one species preys/feeds directly on all parts of a member of another species. So in short, the hawk was the predator while the rodent in its mouth was the prey.

On the ground I noticed that there were a lot of owl pellets, which is proof to show that owls or an owl had been present in the pine tree. For those of you who don’t know, owls, just like many other birds eat their prey whole. The owl is known for slowly digesting its meal and then regurgitating it, which is then referred to as a pellet. There had to have been at least ten owl pellets on the ground.

Looking up at the pine tree, I was also able to distinguish the female pinecones from the male pinecones. I remembered learning about the differences of the two when I took a Biology class. If you are interested in learning more about female verses male pinecones you can check out this website which can elaborate more.

 http://web.gccaz.edu/~lsola/NonFlwr/conif105.htm

                                                   

“The large, single pinecone on the bottom of the picture is a female, while the cluster of little pinecones located at the top are the males.”

While wrapping up my observation, light raindrops began to fall from the sky and I could hear the sound of what seemed to be a huge toad. For a couple of minutes the croaking was pretty loud and consistent, like a mating call. Never catching sight of the toad, I packed myself up and headed home. Of course then the croaking stopped so I am guessing he was close by. By the end of this assignment I was really surprised that by sitting on the ground I didn’t encounter more insects. Maybe this was due to the fact that it was so cold outside. Instead there was just a bunch of dead leaves, branches, and twigs. I even turned over a couple of them to try and catch a sight of something, but I never did. Just those pesky gnats, and maybe mosquitoes.

Until next time, try taking a couple of minutes to yourself and find a peaceful spot in nature that you can observe. I bet you too will find this a bit invigorating!!