This is mine and Ashley's third time to the marsh, it is roughly 52 degrees and it is 1:40 PM as we arrive at the parking lot. We took some pictures on the way to our tree of some different plants for Inaturalist, one of them being a cattail. Once we got to the tree I went into the creek and took the pictures I needed of the branches, canopy, etc… After that we recorded the data. Our Willow is starting to slowly grow some more leaves as the weeks go on. It is slightly cloudy and windy. After we were done with collecting the data of the willow tree we drove over to Jacoby Creek to look for Avocets.
As we arrived we could see that is was low tide as we got to the corner we could see two separate flocks of these birds, Avocets. We sat there for 15 minutes looking at them to see if they were roosting, eating, or if they had any color on them. Majority of them were eating by swiping their beaks back and forth. There was a total of 19 Avocets that we counted while sitting there, some of them even had a cinnamon neck coloring.
After sitting there for 15 minutes we walked back to the car taking pictures of some of the plants along the pathway. I found a snake but wasn’t quick enough to take a picture. I also saw a bunch of different ducks sitting the center of one of the ponds. After gathering the last few pictures we went back to the car and drove back to campus.
This is the third collection or third week we have been collecting data. Our team decided to split up every other week in pairs, so two of us go each week to collect data at the marsh. It was mine and Ashley's turn to go out and collect the data, we arrived around 4:20 PM and walked to our tree. It was about 50 degrees and only partly cloudy. At this time it was low tide at the marsh, it was slightly windy and a few showers occurred while we were there. I took a few pictures of some plants that I saw on the walk to our tree. I took a picture of some sunburst Lichens, alage, and a few other plants. Once we got to our tree I walked into the creek to take pictures of it and to record the necessary data. Once we completed this we got back into the car and drove over to Jacoby Creek Marsh to look for Avocets.
We arrived at Jacoby Creek Marsh and walked to the corner where we were told the avocets would be. After standing around for about 15 minutes we did not see any of the Avocets so we decided to head back to the car. Once again putting all zeros for the Avocet data collection. On the way back I got a few more pictures for Inaturalist one of which were some barnacles that were attached to a side of a rock. After getting the last of the pictures we needed we got into the car and drove back to campus.
This is the first day we have been out in the field for our class, Sci 100. It is roughly 11:00 AM as we arrive at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary, it is slightly windy, but around 58 degrees. It is mostly cloudy and the tide is relatively high. We start off our day with looking at Willow trees and learning what to look for: breaking leaf buds, pollen release, fruit, leaf foliage etc… Kelly showed us what to look for and how to identify certain things, such as the difference between male or female.
After this we went on to looking for plants/animals for our INaturalist accounts. On of the first things I found was a mushroom, I am not sure what kind it is but it is mostly white with a yellowish tint in the center on the top side of the cap. It was growing along side a log that was next to the gravel trail. On the same log there was a patch of moss growing so I also took a picture of that. It was about the size of an orange not very big, but was a decent size. Walking down the path a little ways I found some yellow Lichens growing on the side of an old post. I also found another mushroom that was similar to the one I had found earlier.
We finished up looking for plants to take pictures of and walked over to Jacoby Creek Marsh to look for avocets. Since it was high tide we were unable to see any of the birds as they are most commonly at the marsh at low tide. Due to the high tide the data we recorded was all zeros due to the bird not being there. We did see a few different types of ducks and other shoreline birds sitting in the water. After staying around the Jacoby Creek Marsh for a while we got back on the buses to get our groups willow tree.
After about a five minute drive we reached our trees, we were the second group to get a tree. It was a very small tree that seemed to be underdeveloped, it was in the middle of a creek thus boots are needed to take pictures and get a close look of the leaf buds and flowering buds. We took pictures of the canopy, two different branches, and a picture of the full tree. We marked the two branches with pink tags and also tagged where we took the canopy picture. We then used the Willow sheet to record the necessary data. After everyone got there trees and recorded the data we got back on to the bus and went back to the school, and ended our trip to the Arcata Marsh.
