Nature Walk on June 15, 2023
I walked into a nature sanctuary around an urban preserved tree park for around 45 minutes. I adventure in the forest, careful not to fall into the ponds and wetlands along the way - the different trails led to diverse environments, home to many animals and plants. Throughout my walk, I was able to see an abundance of squirrels jumping in the trees and some frogs, turtles, and dragonflies around ponds. I spotted a couple of birds, such as cardinals, hummingbirds, and robins, with some herons and ducks around the wetlands as well.
The place was quite dense; there was a lot of vegetation everywhere, with various plants such as ferns, flower plants (ex: sunflowers, sunshine mimosas), and mosses. There was a diversity of colorful butterflies (orange, yellow, blue, green, and brown) pollinating the plants nearby. I noticed that plants with bright colors and fresh, pleasant scents were advantageous traits for flowers as insects and birds much more pollinated them. This left me wondering that if pollinators are all attracted to the same types of flowering plants, competition will increase. This could potentially lead to some plant species out-competing others, creating low-evenness environments and loss of plant biodiversity.
Lastly, I only regret coming in the middle of the afternoon because the weather was excessively humid and hot (around 95 degrees Fahrenheit). However, despite the sweltering heat experienced throughout the walk, it was a pleasant place to wander around and explore all the diverse fauna nature can offer. It's nice to see how much vegetation there could be, even in the middle of a crowded city.