היומן של mp308hsu

I started my observations at 12:43 at 569 G Street. The weather was mostly cloudy with a slight breeze. The sun would occasionally peek through the clouds. The temperature was 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
The next location was at Klopp Lake for the Willow observation. The time was 12:48. Even in that short amount time from the start to the willow tree the wind had picked up and the clouds had drawn in. I heard lots of bird calls around me, maybe more than I was used to. Our willow tree has significantly grown more leaves, but the canopy part is still bare. The two branches have big differences. We have determined that the first branch is growing a lot since the first week of observing but the second branch is dead as there is no difference.
The last stop was at the edge of Klopp Lake for the avocet observation. The time was 1:01pm and the same temperature with the same wind speeds. There was no avocets spotted in the observations. The tide was very very low, and the mudflat were exposed. Even so there were ducks and sandpipers.

We started our observations at 12:47 at the Arcata Marsh. The weather was mostly sunny with very few clouds in the sky and the temperature was 58 degrees Fahrenheit. I went to to the marsh with my partner Chris.
The first location we hiked to was Klopp lake to observe avocets. We arrived at 1:00pm and the tide was very low and the mudflats were exposed but we did not see any avocets. Along with not observing any avocets we did not see many other ducks or birds.
The second location we went to was along Klopp Lake to visit our willow tree, Mak. We arrived there at 1:04pm. The temperature was still the same and the conditions were still the same. We observed lots of leaf growth for our willow, Chris and I predicted around the upper end of the 50-75% category. We took the four pictures and observed lots of differences as the weeks went on. The warmer temperatures are definitely prompting more growth for our willow tree.

Today I went to the Arcata Marsh and observed avocets and willows starting at 11:57am and ending at 1:30pm. The weather was mostly sunny and the temperature was 52 degrees Fahrenheit. I went to the marsh with my partner Chris and several other people. The wind speeds were four miles per hour.

The first place we stopped at was Klopp Lake to see if there were any avocets present. At 12:20 we observed many avocets along the mudbank of Klopp Lake. There were around 40 of them, with about 50-74% with black and white plumage and 0-24% with cinnamon plumage. The tide height based on visual observation seemed medium which seemed to be popular with the outcome of avocets, since this was the highest number of avocets we have observed so far. The weather seemed to play a big factor as well, even with the presence of many humans around.
The second spot we stopped was near Klopp Lake to monitor our willow tree, Mak. We arrived there at 12:47 and the weather was still mostly sunny. We saw lots of new growth and changes happening to our tree. There was a percentage increase of new growth of leaves and breaking buds. We also observed the possibility of flower buds, but we were unsure. The weather seemed to play a huge role in this as well, since the sun was finally coming out it seemed to encourage new growth to Mak.

Our observations started at 11:45am and ended at 12:50. The weather was cloudy, rainy, and windy the whole time we were out in the field.The wind speeds were 11mph and the temperature was 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I went and observed with my partner Chris and we documented several changes to our willow tree, Mak. Its percentages of breaking buds increased to 20% and the same data to leaf growth. An observation I made while walking around the marsh was that Willow trees that were more exposed to elements seemed to grow faster, as they already had evidence of fruits, unlike our willow that is sheltered from natural elements. At Klopp Lake for our avocet observation at 12:07 the weather was still overcast, with lots of rain and wind. We spotted multiple avocets because the tide was very low and the mudbanks were exposed. They were black and white and feeding on the mudbanks. We observed feeding behaviors from the avocets and other ducks, less than 20% were feeding .

We started our observations at 11:16am with cloudy weather and a mixture of elements such as rain and hail with strong winds at 44 degrees Fahrenheit. We ended our trip 12:42 pm with a total walking distance of approximately 2.5 miles. I attended the marsh with my group member Chris Perez and two other people from other classes.
Our first stop was at Klopp Lake to observe Avocets at 11:42am. The weather at the time was very windy, rainy, and slightly hailing at the same time. No avocets were spotted because the tide was high and the waves were violent.
The second stop we made was to observe our willow tree, Mak, at Klopp Lake at 11:54am. We are still unsure about the gender of our willow tree, but Chris and I noticed a growth of leaves which were not there last week. The percentage of the leaves were under 25%, but it was still a new observation. The wind had started to pick up at the time and it was still rainy.
The third stop we made was at the Oxidation Pond to observe avocets at 12:15pm. Again we observed no avocets, and tide was extremely high and the wind gusts were very powerful. The mudbanks were covered so there were no oppportunities for the avocets to eat, and the possibility of the overwhelming weather could have detoured them. The temperature at the time was 44 degrees Fahrenheit.

We started our day at the Arcata Marsh at 12:15pm with partly cloudy weather and 55 degrees Fahrenheit and ended at 3:15 with walking a total of about 2.5 miles. I went with the rest of the Sci 100 class, so around 80 plus students were at the marsh.
The first thing we did was walk to Klopp Lake to observe for Avocets. Since the tide was high, so we did not see observe any Avocets at 12:40pm. The weather at that time was still partly cloudy and windy. We saw other birds such as seagulls and loons, but there were still was not any avocets present.
The second activity we did was hike to the Oxidation pond for the Avocet spot number two. We observed at 1:23 pm and since the tide was high, the mudflats were not exposed so we did not see any avocets. There could have been a slight possibility of them further out in the water, but we could not accurately identify them so we decided it was inconclusive. The other factor of 80 plus students walking around the marsh could have affected the presence of the avocets.
In the time hiking to the second avocet spot I got pictures of multiple organisms, like Clovers, the Common Dandelion, Pine cones, Oak moss, and flowers in the Carrot Family.
At 1:57pm at the Oxidation Ponds our BOG instructor, Mihai Tomescu and John Steele, showed us the basics of what to observe on a Willow tree. The weather was still partly cloudy with the sun peeking out every now and then, and the wind started to pick up. We observed a male willow tree and witnessed pollinators on the tree. This gave us a good idea of what to observe for our future willow tree.
At 2:23pm we hiked back to Klopp lake to be assigned our Willow Tree. From the moment we got our tree, we took our first pictures of it in full, the canopy, and the two branches we would be observing throughout the ten weeks. We are unsure about the gender of our tree, but our group observed and recorded breaking leaf buds on about less than 25% of our branches on the tree.
Personally, the experience of doing fieldwork for the first time was super exciting and it gave me an opportunity to decide if I liked it or not. It was nice to connect with our surrounding area and watch the natural processes happen in these ten weeks. Next time I am going to come more prepared with proper supplies, such as a folder to store my data sheets.