I scoped out the local “rugby” field this morning. A retired birder-couple told me “188 Species” of birds have been spotted in the last decade (by them) in this mixed-habitat space. Here’s a start…
-Jess
Trans: Latin prefix implying "across" or "Beyond", often used in gender nonconforming situations – Scend: Archaic word describing a strong "surge" or "wave", originating with 15th century english sailors – Survival: 15th century english compound word describing an existence only worth transcending.
I scoped out the local “rugby” field this morning. A retired birder-couple told me “188 Species” of birds have been spotted in the last decade (by them) in this mixed-habitat space. Here’s a start…
-Jess
I have an extremely brief update on my Wolf Pine tree; I did my loop and heard nothing. All I found was an enormous explosion of Beech leaves. Yes, a peeper here and a Phobe’s lone chip call there- but really, as the school year draws to a close, my 29th update on this area seemed to be telling me to just relax and enjoy the scene. So I did.
🙂
-Jess
Title says it all I guess. Made in about a half an hour.
-Jess
Walking through the ‘burbs in the dark can be exciting. About an 45 minutes before sunrise, I walked to the base area of Fox park and found these 15 birds. While I didn’t see them, I could certainly hear them!
Species | Count |
Mourning Dove | 1 |
Downy Woodpecker | 1 |
Eastern Phoebe | 3 |
Blue Jay | 1 |
American Crow | 3 |
Black-capped Chickadee | 4 |
Tufted Titmouse | 3 |
House Wren | 2 |
Wood Thrush | 1 |
American Robin | 2 |
Northern Mockingbird | 1 |
Ovenbird | 2 |
Chipping Sparrow | 1 |
Song Sparrow | 1 |
Northern Cardinal | 1 |
-Jess
http://jessphoto.transscendsurvival.plymouthcreate.net/
Check out my new Jess S. photography business website! It is up and running, hosted by PSU’s own Plymouth Create service. If you have questions or inquiries, feel free to contact me!
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Well. There comes a time when one remembering the right things at the right time equates to a high-stakes venture in academia.
Below is a gallery of photos taken today, comprised almost entirely out of bark, leaves, and twigs. This is my study guide for the upcoming natural history final exam. It is not near complete; but for a walk through the woods and a significant number of hours behind a camera, computer, and coffee cup, I think it will do for now. Frogs, tracks, and birds are not covered here.
-Jess
Today, I went lurking about Langdon Woods in search of as many trees as possible. I took over 300 photos of bark, leaves, and twigs, aiming to highlight the growth patterns and key ID features of the trees on the PSU natural history final exam. This went well, and I will be posting these Tree-I-Dee’s as soon as I get through the pictures.
The following photos are the result of chance and some enthusiastic "pishing" I did to draw in the birds, so I would not need to get to off course.
-Jess
I am working on bringing new and exciting services to my website(s). Stay tuned for exciting services, prices, and (of course) galleries!
-Jess
Without further ado:
This morning, I went birding across the campus starting at sunrise. Below is the species list, and two ID shots- Ruby-crowned kinglet and Yellow warbler.
2 Canada Goose
2 Mourning Dove
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
2 Eastern Phoebe
2 Blue Jay
2 American Crow
1 Common Raven
3 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Tufted Titmouse
1 House Wren
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2 American Robin
1 Northern Mockingbird
1 Ovenbird
1 Black-and-white Warbler
1 Yellow Warbler
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
1 Chipping Sparrow
2 White-throated Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
1 Northern Cardinal
1 Common Grackle
1 House Finch
1 American Goldfinch
2 House Sparrow
*1 Black-throated Green Warbler, *Yellow-rumped Warbler found later.
Number of Taxa: 26 + 2
Above is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Note the crown is not ruby colored.
Above is a deeply-hued Yellow Warbler. A pure sounding, “Sweet-sweet-sweet, so-so Sweet!”- heard all over the forest an parking lots alike.
-Jess
Guitar Practice:
Laundry is best done early in the morning. The resulting time between cycles lets me do all kinds of things- below is a short guitar “shred” song inspired by Jeff Beck’s most recent album, Loud Hailer- recorded in its entirety between washing and drying. I recommend turning your volume down, modesty is not part if this song’s vocabulary.
-Jess
This morning at 7am, very few birds were singing. Behind the Rugby field in a solid rain, a small group of people stood with their noses to the sky. This is PSU’s very own Len R. -led class on vertebrate zoology. Now, please note I do not take this class, but I know a thing or two about Len. Len is a bird master; this means vertebrate zoology in the springtime may just equate to an excellent excuse to find and learn about birds and warblers on the premise of a college class. Thank goodness warblers have backbones.
The following list was compiled mostly by Len and another student (who also is not taking the course…).
The louisiana waterthrush, black and white warbler, and a glowing male redstart (all of which are warblers, despite the different naming conventions) really hit this walk out of the park for me.
-Jess
Today- after an extremely productive 7am trip with the vertebrate zoology class mind you- I nipped over to Langdon Woods in the rain to learn about the the little plants growing around the forest floor at a rapid, hydrated rate. The ones I can remember off the top of my head include:
Bunchberry: a ground covering plant with red berries clustered in a bunch. Edible!
Partridge berry: a tiny plant with a leaf or two red berry on top. not dangerous to eat!
Goldenthread: A little plant with three fan-shaped leaves. the deep orange root has numbing and diuretic properties. Useful! Probably not good nutrition though!
Purple trillium: a flower with an exotic crimson color. It is also called “stinking benjamin” because it has an undesirable odor when in bloom. Nice to look at!
Starflower: A distinctive, flat white flower with 7 blades. the leaves all grow from the same spot in a circle- a phenomenon known also in pine trees as a “whorl”. Pretty!
Indian cucumber: a plant that also grows leaves in a whorl shape, with a varying number of leaves. A prime root tastes and feels like a sweet carrot. Some think they can tell how developed the cucumber is by how many leaves are on the plant, though I do not know this to be true. Very tasty!
Wintergreen: a small thick-leafed plant. The leaves are round and a bit waxy looking, but the point is it is a great consumable. Makes great tea!
Sensitive fern: This is a fairly nondescript fern with one key feature: it leaves its fertile fronds attached to the plant for a while, making them easy to spot. Just look for brown “beaded” fronds sticking straight up – this is a clear indication of sensitive fern. Fun to ID!
Ostrich fern: A big fern with large fiddleheads. Great sauteed!
There are more plants we covered, but these are the ones I can remember the best.
-Jess
…This is a brilliant depiction. Best of luck rearing the kiddos. I will add:
hop-hornbeam was in there, with yellowish/crackly bark. Lots of silver maples in the puddly areas, and a sugar maple. Lots of black cherry trees. A few aspens with “sunscreen” bark.
2 river otters, a small crayfish, 2 pre-flight dragonflies.
The 10 most notable birds:
-Jess
At around 9:35 yesterday morning, the natural history class gathered in Fox Park under an amazing clear sky and a light wind. Instead of going into the level of detail as I did over the winter (there were quite frankly less details to be had over the winter) I will try to summarize the two most significant findings .
-Jess
I was in and out of Fox park today as well as yesterday, so I will not put a time. The sun was hot (77F), the skies were clear, and the birds were singing. Loudly. I did a sit spot yesterday, which kind of rolled into today- there was not a peep yesterday. I do not have the foggiest idea why; regardless, it was soggy and drizzly, and I did not make any great achievements worth writing home about. I did, however, find this extremely large and incredibly dead American Toad. Observe it in all its massiveness. This fellow was around 6 (6!) inches long. Key things to note about a toad:
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