Diario de crsegan

For my second nature walk, I went to a wooded area in my local country club. While most of the grounds are (unfortunately) home to well-gardened golf courses, there is a sizable patch of untouched forest that features a surprising variety of wildlife (for a while there were coyotes and foxes in the area, but I wasn't able to see any!). My nature walk was about forty to fifty minutes long, took place in the early afternoon, and the weather was sunny and rather warm (about 85-90 degrees out).

The concept of ecology that I focused on while making my observations was the idea of habitat - more specifically, how do organisms interact with their environment and what constitutes a habitat?

The first thing that I observed was a hatched killdeer egg on the lawn leading up to the forest. The eggshell was in a divot formed by a tire - presumably a maintenance truck for the nearby golf course - that was a couple inches below normal ground level. I immediately found this interesting because it shows the killdeer using its environment to its benefit. It must have determined that this man-made divot would be a good spot for its nest. I didn't find other nests while out there, but I am certain that I came close to a few. Several killdeer were surrounding the same patch of tall grass, so I assume that they used this tall grass as nesting grounds. I was fortunate to see a few of the killdeer try to draw me away from the area by pretending to be wounded and chirping, which I hear is something that they are known for.
I also saw a bee landing on a few flowers on the outskirts of the forest. It made very brief stops on a number of them before landing on one and crawling around. I'm assuming that the bee is performing its function of pollination. I was very lucky to have seen the bee at that very moment to illustrate exactly how it interacts with the world around it.
One thing I thought was exceptionally cool were the several epiphytic species growing in the forest. I saw some green-leaved weeds and several fungi growing out of fallen pieces of wood on the forest floor. Typically I'd expect to see such species growing out of the earth, but instead they've made another organism their habitat. And, in the case of the fungus, dozens of tiny black bugs were crawling around and on them. I can't tell what the bugs were or what they were doing, but it was nonetheless incredible to see species interacting with each other in one form or another. Furthermore, I saw a dead, dry piece of fallen wood on the ground with countless small holes in it. I believe these holes were from various insects digging into the wood and making homes there, which further lends itself to the theme of organisms interacting with the environment around them and what makes a habitat a habitat.
While it was not exceptionally noteworthy, I did see a bird's nest in a tree. I believe it was a robin's nest. While I did not see the homeowner, seeing a nest at all serves as the poster child of an organism using its environment and optimizing its habitat.
Lastly, I'd like to discuss some of the organisms I saw interacting with plant life. Firstly, I saw a mayfly and butterfly/moth resting on some plants during my walk. The mayfly was wholly sedentary when I saw it, while the butterfly/moth was fluttering around rapidly, only stopping on the lead for a brief moment. It leads me to wonder if these organisms chose to stop at the places they did for a specific reason, or simply because they were available. I also saw a spider weaving a web between two leaves. Similarly to the bird's nest, a spider's web is a prime example of an organism using the environment around it to craft its own habitat. Here, I bet the spider chose a spot that a web could easily be spun in - perhaps with many branches to offer support - and that has a lot of traffic for flying insects. I did see a number of mayfly husks trapped in its web.
My last two observations I want to mention were both found on leaves. The first was a series of light green nubs that I saw on a relatively low-lying leaf. I haven't the slightest clue as to what they are, but they seemed interesting. My guess would be some sort of egg or other vessel for insects to procreate, but this guess is baseless. The second organism that I saw was a very intimidating arachnid sitting on a leaf. It was totally still but it did scare me when I first saw it. Its body was much smaller than its legspan. As far as my questions of environment and habitat, I question whether or not it was simply lounging around like the aforementioned mayfly or sitting on the leaf to hunt is a mystery to me, but whatever the arachnid was was simply too interesting to exclude from my discussion!

For my first nature walk, I went to New York City's Central Park. Initially, I was worried that I would not be able to find much in the way of observations. Central Park was the only accessible and sizable green space nearby, and I feared that its role as a tourism hub would scare off the wildlife. I was surprised to find that there was actually a great deal of variety there, as many areas of the park are kept as nature sanctuaries. I saw a number of species in the park that I did not expect to find there. My nature walk was about forty minutes long, took place mid-afternoon, and the weather was sunny but cool (about 70 degrees out).

I of course found species that one would typically assume resided in an American park: eastern gray squirrels, Canadian geese, pigeons, rats, and small birds like European starlings. The geese generally stuck to the water, while the other animals named above roamed the grounds. The squirrel, as seen in the uploaded observation, was climbing around on a tree. I even saw a squirrel nest made of leaves higher up in a tree, however I was unable to snap a quality picture to upload.

Some species that surprised me to see were turtles, a hawk, carp, and, most of all, a heron. The turtles that I saw were either swimming in the pond or relaxing on a rock jutting out of the water. I initially mistook the hawk I observed for an owl since it was so high up and hard to see. In hindsight, it certainly makes more sense that I would be seeing a hawk in the afternoon than an owl. Either way, the presence of a raptor species is interesting to me, seeing as it likely preys on some of the other species I saw, like the rats. That just goes to show that there's a functioning ecosystem within Central Park, and that it's not just a landscaped garden designed solely for human enjoyment. Seeing the carp - or what I believe to be a carp - also surprised me. Back home in Michigan, carps are known to be invasive to the Great Lakes and threaten the ecosystem there. So, I suppose I have a presupposed notion that carp are harmful, so seeing one in a nature sanctuary challenged my existing conceptions about carp. I also saw a heron from afar, which was very cool for me because the herons are my favorite birds! That was an extra special treat for me on my nature walk.

Lastly, I saw a pretty good variety of flora throughout the park. I could not identify each and every species that I encountered, but I uploaded some of the standout observations: duckweed, a sycamore tree with an interesting bark pattern, some thistles, a few ferns, moss, and a bit of lichen growing on both trees and rocks.

All in all, I think this was a good start to my nature walks. I was surprised and impressed by the variety of species I encountered, especially given that it was in a park surrounded for miles by an urban landscape. I am excited to compare my observations here to later observations in more isolated and wild areas back home in Michigan!