brandonshumate's Journal

For this first nature walk I decided to stay close to the university, so I took a nice stroll around the reservoir. The first thing I noticed when I got there was how popular it was, so I immediately grew concerned that there wouldn't be many animals out. Luckily, there were several geese, swans, and ducks that were just swimming around in the water, so I was able to get a few pictures of each of those. After walking further around the reservoir for about another half hour, I realized that I probably wasn't going to get a picture of a squirrel or a chipmunk like I wanted, so I decided to snap a picture of what I believe is a fireweed instead. After that, I found a little trail that leads into the wooded area north of the reservoir. I figured that since there were lots of trees, I could easily find the little vertebrates that I was looking for. I had no luck, but I noticed that there was a rather large ant crawling on a piece of bark down by my feet. I got a shot of it, and headed back to the school. the weather was overcast and windy, and it was a little cold, around the mid 60s (I'm from San Diego, so please go easy on me with what I consider to be "cold". I know that I'll be in for quite the shock in just a few months).

For this second nature walk, I decided to get further away from campus and walk around the Webster Conservation Area. It was nice to walk around a place where it seemed like I was the only person there (apart from the sounds of the T going by and the cars on nearby Hammond Pond Parkway). With Fall starting, there were plenty of leaves on the ground and some in the trees were beginning to change. For the majority of my walk there, I didn't see much, so I just took some pictures of what I believe to be American Witch-Hazel, Common Bracken, and Eastern White Pine. I also took a picture of fly that had seemingly been buzzing around me since I got there. I heard birds chirping for the duration of time that I was there, and was desperate to snag a picture of one. This proved frustrating, as I could hear them high up in the canopy but could not see themselves myself. Luckily, I spotted a squirrel in the corner of my eye, and quickly took a picture of it, fulfilling my wish to have a vertebrate in this entry. The weather was overcast, windy, but pretty humid, with the temperature probably hovering around the low- to mid-70s.