Week 11

  

Another glorious day at Symphony Park it was! Unlike the last few weeks, minus last week when I found some ant hills, I found some things coming to life! This week I found some plants starting to break through the ground. This is so exciting! I did not hear much this week except a few birds but I did not see them. After looking around the park a bit more looking for more plant like creatures I decided to settle for what I got this week. I spent a long time looking at these pictures before doing research. The roots look like asparagus to me but I knew that was not what was growing at the park. The roots looked familiar to me almost like it was something that was growing in my yard so I asked my mother. She said yes we do have them growing in our yard they are known to be called hostas'. I did some research and she was correct as far as we can see! This website shows almost a picture identical to the one I took at the park, the same color roots and everything. http://shavenook.com/thread-hosta-garden-beginning-to-wake-up On this website it says that this plant is over 100 years old, but after learning about extinctions and everything else in class 100 years seems like nothing to me now! These are extremely new plants as far as I am concerned!

 

 

 

"Hosta Garden Beginning to Wake up." Hosta Garden Beginning to Wake up. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.

Week 10

Week 10 at Symphony Park! It was a beautiful Easter morning, a bit chilly but very sunny! We heard an obnoxious dog barking throughout my observations along with a few birds that were willing to stand the cold! I found some ant hills first in the grass and as we were leaving the park we saw more on the sidewalk. We did not see many ants maybe because of the chilly weather. After doing some research on only a little evidence, there is a good possibility that the type of ants that I was viewing were field ants.

The few that we did see were a brown, translucent color. This combined with where the nest was located led me to this conclusion. According to an exterminator, who would most certainly be familiar with finding ants, "Field ants commonly form large low-profile earthen mounds in the yard" (Steinau). His assessment of the ant hills is close to what we found.

Steinau, Rick. "Field Ants." Field Ants. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.

Week 9

Moss Moss everywhere at Symphony Park in Peabody, Massachusetts! Wow, this is week 9 and it feels like just yesterday I was picking my location. This week, it was a glorious day just like it has been for the past few weeks I have done my blog post. I saw and heard more birds this week just like the past few Sundays but the moss really stuck out to me this week. My sister came to the park with me and pointed it out and asked "Sam can we take a picture of this fuzzy green stuff"? We took pictures and then I remembered the "myth" about Moss only growing on the North side of the tree. My sister thought I was just making that up so of course I had to prover her wrong! I went home and did my research. The website I found proved that the statement is in fact a myth! According to the website moss can grow on the North, South, East or West side of the tree as long as there is their is enough moisture (www.forteantimes.com). I bet lots of people did not know this because I sure as hell did not! I was believing a myth all of my life! I hope some of you will read this and learn that you too learn that you have been believing a myth! Happy Spring! See you all next week!

www.forteantimes.com/strangedays/mythbusters/2911/moss_growth.html

"Strange Days: Myth Busters." Moss Growth. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Week 8

This week I saw more signs that Spring is here and I am thrilled! As I approached the park with my Labrador Retriever I saw new life such as grass forming all around the park and leaves finally on the ground. They were last years leaves but they were still leaves and the grass was looking less and less brown! This is a lovely start! I heard basketballs bouncing and children yelling, it was a glorious day! I first saw the grass growing in the cracks in the sidewalk which got me very excited. This is a sign that things are starting to reproduce again and come back to life from the horrid winter that we encountered this year. After I saw the grass growing between the sidewalk I noticed the couple birds nest's in the trees. Birds are so smart, they have used the old leaves from the past season to make a nest to keep their young that they have reproduced during the winter. In the article I found, The Four Seasons, it talks about how animals wake or return from warmer climates, often with newborns (Redd). The video that is on this website was very interesting as well, including all of the seasons of life. This was a helpful website that explains what happens in each season and was useful when I got home from the park to do some research! Happy blogging! See you all next week!


http://www.livescience.com/25202-seasons.html

 

Redd, Nola Taylor. "The Four Seasons: Change Marks the Passing of a Year." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 03 Dec. 2012. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.

Week 7

Good morning all! I went out on Sunday back to Symphony Park to find more birds but not more snow thank heavens! This week I decided to focus on the trees. It was not a windy day so the weather was gorgeous. I heard and saw a few birds but not as many as last week which is interesting, it was warmer this week than last week. Hmmm. I found the trees to be interesting this week, they were full and not naked. I took the two pictures of the tree itself on Sunday and went to explore the internet to see what type of tree it actually was. After finding this website: http://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/?TrackingID=908 I realized I needed to go back and take a picture of the leaves/needles on the tree to truly identify what kind of tree it is. So, I went back this morning to the park and came back and took the quiz to identify the tree. After answering questions I decided this tree was a Red Spruce. http://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/WhatTree.cfm?ItemID=E16c It seems to identify the tree exactly and looks exactly like the one at the park. I really loved this website because I feel as if this was accurate and asked all the right questions to identify the tree. Happy Spring! See you next week!

http://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/?TrackingID=908
http://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/WhatTree.cfm?ItemID=E16c