Diario de grinerg

Today I went on a very nice walk around Longfellow Pond (without my dog this time), I had never been around the pond before despite it being very close to my normal dog walking route of Centennial, and I was very surprised by how different the biodiversity seemed to be here despite the two places very close distance. I opted to go later in the day so that it wouldn't be too hot, and despite being about 80 degrees the amount of tree cover allowed for a lot of shade, so it wasn't unbearably hot for this nature walk. As I walked around the pond, I kept noticing a lot of different plants than Centennial had, which could be attributed to the fact that while Centennial has a pond, it is not completely a water based area, whereas Longfellow is mostly wetlands. Even the flowers that I found were completely different, such as the daylilies that surrounded much of the area, and while I didn't see many bees, I expect that many of the flies that were present there used the easy cup of the daylily to the pistil to pollinate the others around it. Speaking of the many flying bugs that surrounded me on my walk (and were quite annoying to deal with, especially with the heat and humidity) I assume that they are some of the many sources of food for the bullfrogs that I found in the pond (and managed to take a picture of!), and the duckweed (I believe) that sits on top of the pond provides a great camouflage from predators (as well as a great food source), I almost couldn't see the little guy I managed to capture because of it! Probably the best and most amazing part of my walk was seeing a Great Blue Heron, I had never seen one before and my mind instantly went to dinosaur when I saw it because it was absolutely HUGE! There were so many turtles, frogs and fish in the pond that I'm sure it loves hanging around there to be able to find a stable food source, and it was just so amazing to see in person that I will never forget it, I probably wouldn't have even looked to that side, however the rushing water from the dam into a brook made me look over to see it and I'm so grateful I was able to capture it. There was also a lot of moss on the ground and some on the trees which from what I learned from class, helps filter out harmful toxins in wet areas and keeps them clean, as well as keeping the humidity around the pond which helps other plants grow and thrive, and in turn allows the wildlife many sources of food. This was by far my better nature walk because I was genuinely able to see how the things we learned about in class actually play out in real life right in front of my eyes (as well as the many animal sightings that were absolutely amazing) and even though the geese from the pond were surrounding my car as I tried to leave, I think I will be partaking in nature walks more often and opening my eyes to the amazing world around me!

I had quite a peaceful 40 minute walk around Centennial Reservation with one of my dogs, he sadly didn't make the observation cut but he did have a lot of fun splashing around in the pond we explored together (which is where I saw a lot of tadpoles and had to wait patiently for a frog to pop it's head up from the water, they were so adorable) and he was able to make a lot of other dog friends. The weather was beautiful, a sunny 80 with a slight breeze to take the heat off of us for moment when we traversed some of the more exposed fields of the reservation. There was a lot of flying bugs whenever we walked around the forest parts of the reservation, however there were also a lot of crickets and dragonflies around as well which I was unable to photograph. There was a couple of geese in the pond however they flew away as soon as we approached so there are no pictures of them, probably should have left the dog at home but he loves this reservation I couldn't just leave him! Even though I come to Centennial often, I was able to spend more time observing the nature in the area rather than just watching my dog run around and I was amazed at how diverse the ecosystem is here! There was so many different plants around (including a great number of mosses which are my favorite) and I could see that while some plants have died they were able to create a new place for fungi to live which is such a cool example of life and death. I'm glad I got to experience Centennial in a different light on this nature walk and I can't wait to do it again!