Fall in the northwest! This was the first offering of ENVIR 280 in the fall (as opposed to spring), and we weren’t sure how it would work out. But it worked out splendidly, with awesome opportunities to explore the alpine and glaciers, chances to witness migration in full swing, plenty of life in the lowlands as the summer wound down, and an opportunity to see the fall colors come out as the landscape readied itself for winter. Thanks everyone for a great quarter! And a special thank you to the freshman FIG cohort who took a chance and made this one of their first classes of their college career. Hope to see you all again soon.
Early in the quarter, first stop: Nisqually Delta. Canada geese gathering for migration.
Nisqually Delta, looking out to the Puget Sound. Tornado approaching. Not what you want to see when you are leading a course. Luckily it veered away from us, and then the weather improved.
Tree Frogs abound at Nisqually Delta!
Such a variety of color forms.
More colors!
Garter snakes coiled in the trees, perhaps waiting for tree frogs.
Next stop, Mima Mounds. In the absence of fire, Douglas firs invade the prairie.
Journaling on the Mima Mounds.
Getting excited about a non-native Praying Mantis.
Allie drawing the mantid.
Macro mantid! It turns out this species is probably non-native.
Jorge discussing birds on the prairie.
Sunday: Mount Rainier, emerging from the orographic clouds!
A cloud layer descends over the lower Nisqually Glacier. The group studies the ice from the lateral moraine.
Sketching glacial formations on the Nisqually Glacier.
Sketching on the moraine, and studying the movement and deposits of glaciers.
The toe of the rapidly retreating Nisqually Glacier.
In the Puget Sound region, you don’t have to travel back to the ice age to understand what glaciers are and how glaciers work. Here is the outwash stream of the Nisqually Glacier from the moraine.
Clouds trying to lift.
Intrepid students of natural history braving the cool weather of our approaching winter on the mountain.
Examining a Ruffed Grouse.
Learning to “read” the forest at Kautz Creek.
Teaching in the grove of trees that hooked me on the natural history of the Pacific Northwest. Thanks to my mentor at the time, Valerie Bowen, for introducing me to this grove in 1997.
The remarkable Douglas fir cone mushroom, specific to, you guessed it, Douglas fir cones. We found this one beneath an old growth Douglas fir canopy in Mt. Rainier National Park.
The group poses in the old grove low on the slopes of Mt. Rainier. Thanks to Jorge Tomasevic for the photo.
Jorge Tomasevic, photo.
Field Sketching workshop, with Maria Coryell-Martin, at UBNA on UW campus.
Halloween! The Natural History costume challenge.
To the east side to escape the rain. Examining the fangs and pits on this recently deceased rattle snake, now a specimen at the Burke Museum.
Mima Mound-like formations on Umtanum Ridge. The lithosol community is going dormant this time of year, and the cold winds of winter are returning. A far cry from the colorful palette of the spring landscape on Umtanum Ridge.
Naturalist at work.
The fine hairs covering the leaves of Tall Sagebrush help it resist moisture loss in this windy, dry environment.
An aspen grove turns yellow, trees are probably all clones of each other. On the east side, Douglas fir is shade tolerant (relative to Ponderosa Pine), in the background.
Anthocyanins show through as chlorophyll is lost.
Peer TAs taking their job seriously, as usual! 😉
Wolf lichen! A yellowish natural dye can be made from this lichen.
Black Hawthorne in fall splendor, by Umtanum Creek.
Final trip of the fall, and perfect weather: Ebey’s Landing and Skagit flats. Jorge scanning the lagoon for waterfowl.
Golden-crowned sparrows are in abundance as winter comes on.
Releasing the sparrow.
Ebey’s Landing trail along Strait of Juan de Fuca. Photo by Kathleen Ervin (student).
TA, Jorge Tomasevic talks about gulls.
Journaling in the prairie strip along the bluffs.
Journaling and lunch above the Strait.
Mount Rainier from Skagit Flats, in the setting sun. A flock of snow geese had just flown over. In the distance in this photo, you can see a flock of shorebirds, appearing as a dark smudgy line on the left flank of Rainier, just above the shoreline hill.
Tim Billo: University of Washington, Environmental Studies 