Site 1,2,3,4 - February 3, 2011

Site #1:

It was day 3 and we were headed to the Ridge. On our way there we stopped at the entrance of the Bus Garage. We saw a ditch that led to a concrete pipe. It was filled with dead grass on the edges and many broken branches. We could hear the ac/heat system from the high school, crunching of leaves when we walked, and the wind blowing. We're still in the winter season so the temperature is pretty cold. It wasn't as cold as usual.

As you can see above, this is the ditch that led into the creek with the concrete pipe. It was very narrow and had little water on the bottom.

Site #2:
As we walked to our next site, we came upon a tree with a very large hole in the middle. It seemed to have come from a woodpecker. On the bottom of the tree there appeared to be sawdust.  We assumed it came from the woodpecker as he was on the tree. Around the tree, we saw broken branches, other trees, leaves that had fallen from those trees and dirt. We heard rustling of leaves and the wind still blowing. The temperature was still the same.

As you can see in the picture above, there are several holes in the tree. They are from termites and the bigger holes are from woodpeckers.

Site #3:
We kept walking on our nature walk and came to a giant log that had fallen in the middle of the trail. On the large log there was fungus growing and a very large woodpecker hole. This fungus was different looking than what we would normally see. It was brown and lumpy rather than white or green. We assume that the woodpecker had made this hole on the log before it had fallen. As we stood there, the wind was rustling the leaves that had fallen of the trees. We are still in the winter season.

Site #4:
We continued our walk to our last site. We stopped to see a fallen log with a half-eaten acorn. A sign of life was here; a squirrel. This was very interesting to see because I had never seen this before. We kept walking a little ways to see a patch of moss with several more half-eaten acorns. Above our heads, a crow was flying by making his calls. The leaves were rustling in the wind, that started to pick up. We are still in the winter season and it is getting colder as the evening is coming near.