A Year in Carkeek Park

 

 I saw the first flowers of spring today! My best guess is salmonberry. I'll keep an eye on it as the leaves get bigger. I also heard my buddy the song sparrow again and saw several other birds, one of which was quite small, I thought possibly even a hummingbird (Anna's hummingbirds winter in the Seattle region). 

 Another trip out to Carkeek at dusk. It was overcast but not raining. And I saw the first sign of spring: tiny buds on the vine maple. I can't identify it with 100% certainty at this stage of growth, but the forest floor beneath the shrub was covered with decomposing leaves that appeared to be vine maple, so I'm pretty confident that's what it is. I will keep an eye on it as the leaves get bigger! I also noticed this tall Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium). Initially, I wasn't sure if it was tall Oregon grape or dull Oregon grape. I ran it through Pl@ntNet, which had trouble with it-- Oregon grape (or mountain grape, as they call it) was only listed as a 5.7% match! Yes, I'm 100% sure it is either tall or dull. Oregon grape is the only plant in this region with these characteristic leaves. It was the new growth shoots going up that seemed to confuse Pl@ntNet.

 I heard that Sounder rail actually cancelled service for most of this week between Seattle and Everett. What does that have to do with Carkeek Park, you may be wondering. Well, the train tracks run right under the bluffs at Carkeek, sandwiched between the steep forested cliff and Puget Sound. Because of all the rain, the ground has been saturated and there was the danger of mudslides on the tracks. You can learn more about landslides in the region here . It stopped raining, but you can see the evidence it left behind. These deep crevices in the gravel trail were made by excess rainwater turning the trail into a riverbed. The water is gone but the crevices remain. Watch your step! I couldn't see any birds (it was getting dark and as usual, my mask was fogging my glasses) but I did catch a recording of some song that BirdNET tells me is most likely a cedar waxwing ( Bombycilla cedrorum ). I was hoping to get all the way to the marsh to hopefully get some duck pics, but it was alread...

 The photos don't come out so well when my phone is in its dry bag. That's why they look misty. Raindrops on denuded branches, but there is still plenty of green.

 

  It was sunny today. I saw a flock of dark eyed juncos (small songbirds) and heard many more chickadees (black-capped and chestnut-backed chickadees are common). I also saw these two interesting fungi growing on/next to a fallen log. I've never tried identifying mushrooms before so I have no idea what species these are. The tiny white ones grew on the underside of the log, and the big gloppy looking tan one grew from the ground beneath the log. 

It rained hard most of the day but by the time I finished work at dusk, the rain had stopped. It was much colder than yesterday. Every time I stopped to take a picture with my phone, my hands and feet started to go numb. I found this small friend crouching in the blackberry brambles near Piper's Creek. Eastern Cottontails ( Sylvilagus floridanus )  are the most common rabbit species in North America, including King County. They are not native to the region but can frequently be seen in parks and backyards and sometimes even in more urban parts of the city. 

It was dusk when I made it out to the park today and in the dim light and with my glasses fogged up from my mask, I knew bird ID was going to be difficult. I caught this lovely singer by Piper's Creek on video to look up later. BirdNET tells me it is almost certainly the sound of a song sparrow ( Melospiza melodia ), which is a species identified in the riparian habitat of Carkeek Park (see more here ).

 Blackberry vines on moss covered log Licorice fern ( Polypodium glycyrrhiza)  also growing out of a log. This plant loves wet forest and often grows as an epiphyte on bigleaf maple trunks. The rhizomes are edible and taste like licorice! (I have eaten it in the past, but didn't partake today.) Western hemlock ( Tsuga heterophylla ) can be distinguished from other evergreens because the needles lay flat on the branch, and the crown of the tree droops. It is the state tree of Washington. Piper's Creek is almost roaring today. The rain has continued all day... I wore my puddle stompers with wool socks and my feet stayed warm and dry.

 I went over after work at dusk for a quick walk. It wasn't raining at the time but it has been very wet recently with lots of mud and some parts of the trail have turned into a creek unto themselves. I saw this interesting plant which might be bigleaf avens ( Geum macrophyllum) , although I'm not 100% sure. I'll try to get a better picture in full daylight later on.

  It rained hard all day yesterday and the day before. When the sun showed its face this afternoon I finally got up the energy to head to Carkeek. It was still dripping from the tree branches even though the rain had stopped.

A list of sources I use for plant and animal ID and about Carkeek Park. I will add to this list as I discover more. PLANTS Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon (Lone Pine Publishing, 1994) Pl@ntNet Plant Identification Website Carkeek Park Forest Plant List BIRDS All About Birds , The Cornell Lab BirdNET  Bird Identification App Birds of Carkeek Park  PDF Booklet CARKEEK PARK Carkeek Park , Seattle Parks and Recreation Friends of Piper's Orchard