Field Notes April 18th-26th 2009

This week marks our first reptile sighting of the year and also a number of new bird species and observations. Hawks fighting in the treetops and blossoms bursting from the soil and trees, what more could we ask for on the week of Earthday? I'm curious to learn more about the happenings at the mouth of Mission Creek. Wednesday's Field Note is a wonderful reminder that we at the headwaters are connected to all of Puget Sound, and from Puget sound, the Pacific and from the Pacific, the entire world. Who can know where the waters of Mission Creek will travel? All I know for sure is that they will travel farther than anyone of us can dream ...



April 18th, 2009:
I saw a duck!!!!! Plus I even saw three slugs on a leaf. My name is Leo Spencer.

April 22nd, 2009 EARTH DAY!:
-Earthday dedicated to mission creek headwaters. Hey Ya'll, see whats happening at Mission Creek enters the Sound in Priest Point Park- Tearing down the dam! I always like to have clippers or a saw to take on select ivy while walking through the park. Multi-task!

April 24th, 2009:
-Bird list (heard) by Lowell and Oliver Dickenson: Orange Crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata), Hutton's Vireo (Vireo huttoni), Black-capped Chickadees, Robins, Red Breasted Sap-Suckers, Wilson's Warbler (Wilsonia canadensis), Black-Throated Grey Warbler (Dendroica nigrescens). Indian Plum has done bloomed, Big Leaf Maple Blooming!

April 26th, 2009:
-Partly Cloudy, 60 F, Calm. Beautiful day. Saw the sharped-shin/cooper's hawk on nest by Etheridge entrance. Then two more accepters flew to the nest and had a squabble & now no-one is on the nest. More Trillium fading to violet & the Bleeding heart are blooming. Northwestern Garter Snake (Thamnophis ordinoides) out sunning beside the trail and several Ash (Fraxinus latifolia) have leafed out by the NE fir street entrance. Dogwoods (Cornus spp) and Bitter Cherries (Prunus emarginata) in bloom. -FTW & SCP

-16:30, Partly cloudy, but mostly sunny!