Journal Entry #2: Redmond Watershed Preserve

It is slightly darker outside at my natural area but retained a cool breeze for the duration I was there. While walking through the forested watershed I noticed there were more species of emerging fungi from numerous decomposing logs that were there last week when I visited. The one fungi colony that fascinated me the most was Goat’s Beard, a white fungus with many spine clusters in a dense grouping. The tips were completely white indicating that is was a new emerging fungus since their spine tips usually gain a reddish tint with age. Along with the Goat’s beard, a small orange capped mushrooms emerged alongside the spine like fungus. As my observations continued I noticed that the Devil’s Club in my area seemed to be withering away since the leaves were much more yellow and wilting. Also, there seemed to be less individual plants so either they were tampered with or died off over the course of the week. The strange white fuzz or mold also seemed to be disappearing quickly mainly due to the lack of decomposing fungi in the area but I’m sure it is still prominent in other areas of the watershed. The male and common sword ferns are still dominant on the ground level as well as the moss that engulfs a majority of the ground. As I was sitting on a log in the watershed a chipmunk was making a chirp-like noise at a constant rate over my head. Maybe it was signaling others of my presence or trying to express its dominance and territorial boundaries. While I was there, it seems that there was more tree frog and chipmunk chatter compared to last week’s symphony of bird calls. This might be due to the time of day or the presence of numerous chipmunks in my area. Most of the King Boletes and White Matsutakes were smashed and decomposing. I flipped over a squished king bolete and about ten small narrow black insects scrambled from the stem and retreated. As I continued to walk through the forest I noticed a distant “hooting” that only occurred about every two minutes. From my past experience of seeing owls I assumed that it was a Spotted Owl. Although I couldn’t see it, I have seen many Spotted Owls in this area and this species of owl is one of few that call during the daylight.