April 2, 2012 (Sand Point Way, Seattle)

Location: I traveled to the east of the UW Seattle campus later on April 2, 2012 and documented two more species. The Mallard ducks were found wandering in the Radford Court apartment area and the daisies were found on the grass at Magnuson Park close to the bus stop.

Route: From the bus stop outside Lander Residence Hall, get on either the 75 or 30 bus and take it until the Magnuson Park bus stop past Seattle Children's Hospital and next to the Radford Court apartment complex. The daisies are on the grass all over the area near this bus stop and the ducks can be found wandering around the Radford Court apartments.

Weather: The sky had only about 20% cloud cover and it was the warmest day it has been since I started observing species. The temperature was about 60 degrees Fahrenheit and there was very little wind blowing.

Habitat: The Radford Court area is a series of apartments intermingled with grassy areas and small gardens. The ducks were found on one of these small grassy areas that was particularly muddy in a "street" between some of the apartment buildings. There was nothing other than grass in the small area where the ducks were spending their time that day, but the rest of the garden areas in Radford Court have small wildflowers, bushes, and even smaller trees. These ducks were clearly looking for handouts from some of the tenants as they were willing to let me come very close to them without any fear. They probably make their home in Magnuson Park across the street and come looking for generous humans. The daisies were found directly in Magnuson Park on its edge closest to the main street where the bus stops. There were, however, daisies all over the grass in the large area of Magnuson Park next to the Radford Court apartments. This area had larger deciduous trees and even some conifers. There were no other wildflowers besides the daisies and there was plenty of neat grass and patches of bark for small shrubs. There were other little birds chirping in the trees that I did not get a glimpse of and squirrels running around the area.

Vegetation: As I mentioned before, Radford Court has little in the way of true vegetation. It is mostly neatly cut grass and small flowers or shrubs. This is truly an area groomed to suit human needs. The ducks were only there because they wanted a handout, which shows how humanity influences their species, and their true habitat is likely down by Lake Washington in Magnuson Park. The part of Magnuson Park that I looked at that day was also very neat and showed clear signs of being tailed to suit humans. The daisies were, however, growing perfectly fine in the area and seemed to have taken over the grass in the new Spring. Bees were buzzing around a few of the daisies and more will likely come as the season progresses.

General Comments: I don't really like looking for species in areas like Radford Court. I was, however, there on other business and decided to take the opportunity to get a good picture of the ducks since the ones at home and on the UW Seattle campus are more skittish than the ones I found at the apartments. I definitely want to check out Magnuson Park some more. My short exploration of a small area of the park piqued my interest and I want to see if the rest of the park, especially the areas close to the lake, are more wild. It is, however, interesting to see the evidence of human habitation and how it impacts the growth of plants and animals. Radford Court is a great example of this. No plant species but what was put there by humans remains and the ducks are so used to human scraps that they will let one touch them. I would look at more areas like Radford Court just to see this sort of interaction between humanity and nature and how these environments differ from the more wild ones like at Magnuson Park.

Species List:
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Daisy (Bellis perennis)

Publicado el abril 11, 2012 05:53 MAÑANA por