During my time at my natural area I noticed that not much has changed with the emergence of cold temperatures and dry air. There are almost no strong fungal formations that are easily seen while waking through the forested area. All the mushrooms I have seen are either dying or damaged in some way from another source. With the decline of fungi, the moss in my area seems to be thriving and there are almost no changes in its growth. It's lust green color is still present and has even spread farther out to some decomposing logs in the area. On top of all this moss is the leaf litter of broadleaf trees such as bigleaf maple and red alder. The Devil's club in the area is pretty much completely gone as well as the skunk cabbage. With the weather being quite dry and very cod in the past week, the moisture in the forest has dropped drastically and some previous swamp-like characteristics are now nonexistent. There are no areas with deep mud and wet puddles and all that remains now are hardened icy dirt and soggy patches of land. Also, many ferns have started to die off and the population of ferns have declined and thinned out. This cold be due to the cold temperatures and the start of winter coming soon. Even though the temperature has begun to drop, the chipmunk community is still highly active in search of food to store for the upcoming winter months. Many could be seen scrambling around the forest trail hunting for seeds and nuts scattered around the ground layer of conifer litter. Along with these chipmunks, birds such as song sparrows, american robin, and black-capped chickadees are communicating and vocalizing in various trees.
This drawing illustrates a Song sparrow or
Melospiza melodia climbing along a branch within a thicket of twigs and branches next a pond in my natural area. This bird was constantly moving and hopped/flew to various branches making no noise besides the movement of sticks and wings flapping. This small bird also would creep along the ground and twigs to get from one side to the other. When on the ground level amongst the leaf litter, it would pick up objects such as small twigs or leaves. It would then bring these objects to an under covered shelter area. This sheltered area was only about half a foot off the ground and had a dense thicket of branches engulfing it. This bird didn't seem to be hunting for food since it remained in the same area for an extended amount of time. Also, this small sparrow was completely alone at the time and was not communicating with any vocalizations with other birds nearby. It finally flew away over the pond when it noticed my presence.
While walking through the watershed preserve, I heard a constant hammering noise against some hollow object. I instantly knew it was a pileated woodpecker (
Dryocopus pileatus) from its obvious pecking sound that it emitted across the forest as well as my previous sightings of this woodpecker before. This bird was on a dead tree that was about twenty feet high and only had a few thick branches and exposed areas with bare wood. It was not communicating with any other birds and only produced a loud pecking sound against this hollowed out decomposing tree. There were no bird around or even on the same tree as this bird and I have never seen multiple pileated woodpeckers in one area making it seem as though they are solitary creatures. I observed this bird for about thirty minutes until it flew away in the other direction. It stayed on this tree for a while and would hop up and down using its talons to grip the bark in order to hold on. The pecking was not constant either and the bird would take breaks and then continue to peck at the wood of the tree.
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