Diario de radfordl

Yesterday, I went to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir to make observations. It was hot out (high 70s, low 80s), but not very sunny. I There were many people outside enjoying the day, especially with their dogs. I walked around the Res and the area for ~50 minutes. I think I saw: Pepperweeds, Cinquefoils, Mute Swan, False Indigos, Great Blue Heron, Subgenus Lasius, and Sassafras. Four of my observations were plants. The Res has a lot of plants surrounding the walking path and near the water, which made this a great place to go this week. The area is also surrounded by very tall trees. I was surprised with the amount of animals and insects I was able to see as well; some animals, like the chipmunk, were moving too fast to get a picture though. Lots of people there were taking pictures of the Great Blue Heron who sat in the same spot for the whole time I was there. One thing I have noticed this week is that I have a difficult time telling small leafy green plants apart if their leaves look similar! Luckily, lots of my post have had people suggesting IDs, and I even got a comment on one of my observations, which was fun. It is great that the app has such good suggestions, and the users help you out to recategorize too.

Yesterday, I met up with a friend from class, and we took a walk around the reservoir, as well as poked around the wooded area near the entrance. It was cool and partly cloudy when we went. Throughout the past few modules, the textbook addressed human impact on nature, and the reservoir had many connections to this theme. When we went, there were many people outside enjoying the scenery. When we were taking pictures and discussing what we were seeing, a few people stopped to ask us what we were looking at and doing, which remind me of what we learned in the first unit: many people were interested in biodiversity's aesthetic effect. It was interesting to see all of the nature in and around the water, while considering that the reservoir is a man-made body of water. It was very unfortunate to see trash from humans in the wooded area especially though as well. In terms of our current unit, I attempted to find some fungi and lichen. This was easiest to find in the wooded area, and I think I found two different types of lichen, although I am not too sure. They were found on lots of the rocks around the res, which makes sense, as lichen often live on trees, rocks, and soil.