Journal Entry 2 (Second Time at Foxcroft Farm)

Journal Entry #2

Name: Fanny Riand
BioCube Number: 1 (Swamp)

BioCube Location: We had to move our BioCube slightly because it rained so much that it became flooded and no longer had vegetation in it. We moved it so that it was only partially in the swamp water and contained vegetation, so it has a source of food to attract organisms and insects may also use the plants to land and rest.

Listening to Nature Notes:
It's crazy how loud the birds are. They are so many different sounds today. Quick little chirps and longer, throaty trills. They chant nonstop, chaotic, wanting to be heard above all the others. They all stopped all of a sudden. Maybe a predator came by? A hawk? I look but I don't see anything. I can't believe how quiet everything is now. It's like night and day. It stays like that for a while and then one bird calls out in the near silence. Then one by one the other calls start back up again too, gaining confidence and becoming increasingly loud. The dry grasses and small branches around me rustle when the wind starts to pick up. It is so peaceful out here. I can hear one call being responded to by another on the other side of the nearby forest. The calls come at regular intervals, and I actually begin to anticipate them. A bird flies overhead, its call getting louder as it gets closer and fading out as it flies into the distance. I can hear the branches of a tree squeak above my head. I wonder how much I could learn if I just stayed here all day long.

Observations:
A black-capped chickadee landed on a cattail right next to us! It was really exciting to see it so close. It pecked at the cattail, eating its seeds. We also caught a crayfish! We named him Cray Cray and kept him with us for a bit before releasing him. He was really cool to look at and to hold. I thought it would be much harder to catch something like a crayfish. He was about the length of half my palm. I wonder how big he can get, or if that is his full size. We saw many plants today, including yellow flowers (genus Caltha?) and small blue flowers (flowering bluets). Leaving the swamp we saw a fluffy black and red caterpillar on the ground in the meadow. Based on its colors, I wonder if it is actually poisonous, or if it is using mimicry to appear poisonous and deter predators.

Posted on 23 de abril de 2019, 03:59 AM by friand