Huntley Meadows 2

On November 19th a group of eight students from NCC went to Huntley Meadows as a "self selected" trip. They explored what the Meadows had to offer and observing new things around them.

On the first part of the trip, the students were lead by a park naturalist around the meadows and observed. Some took pictures, while others wrote down in their field books about what they saw. Here are some of the observations made by the students, as written in their books. Some may be written down more than once.

~Cedar Tree- reddish color with a ripple texture, green moss around it, many small branches that are low to the ground, needle like leaves, the tree is very tall and skinny.

~Micrstrigem-asian grass, brown in the winter/fall, green in spring/summer, covers the forest ground, no animals eat it

~Willow Oak- fat, tall, provides shade for cows, rough bark, branches are high up

~Candian Geese- black head, white stripe around chin, tall legs, long beaks, gray, long feathers, have short wide tails, eat out of the mud

~Heringulls- white small birds, short yellow beak, eat about everything, adapt to everything, live in parking lots, big chest, bobble head walk, white body, gray feathers, black tip tails, high pitch screeching sound

    ~Mallards- dark face, white browned bodies, long, wide small beaks
    ~Beaver Dams- practice beaver dams moms and dads show babies how to make them when they grow up, once the dams are useless, it collapses, snapping turtles use as nests for eggs.
    ~Blue Heron- hunt along shore line, stand about 4 feet tall, blue and gray cover body
    ~Tadpoles Vs. Minnows- Tadpoles make lines in the mud as well as have bigger bodies in older years, minnows swim ontop of the water.

    ~The Cedar Tree loses it's lower branches, is failing because they were the first to grow and now they are being pushed out by newer trees.
   ~Sweet Gums -- "mid-life" of the forest
   ~Microstegem- invasive species that related to the bamboo
   ~The Williow Oak likes moist areas; near the wetlands
   ~Climax Trees- don't shed leaves, just grow new ones
   ~Sycamores don't like wet lands, but this particular was near the wetlands
   ~Canadian Geese- brown and dark brown (maybe black?) feathers, "chin strap", light colored body
   ~Barnyard Run (creek that runs through wetlands)
   ~Practice Dams- adult beavers show the young how to build dams
   ~Beavers knock down cat-tails, wetland shrubs and grass

   ~Cedar trees have round ridges all around its trunk.
   ~Sweet Gums are the trees that drop the prickly brown things. They are burgundy and have five leaves.
    ~Microstegem is a kind of plant that seems to be “taking over the woods.” It is the most invasive plant, and is not wanted in the woods, for it covers much of the ground. It has a greenish brownish stem with brown leaves.
    ~The America Beech tree has a tan trunk with branches that seem to stick straight out on either side with golden brown leaves.
    ~The Sycamore tree is a big tree that is not rare. It does not like to get wet, so it avoids rain as much as possible.
    ~Canadian Geese in the watery mud. These geese have a black head and neck with a tan stripe on their head, brown feathers, a tan chest, white feathers at its end, black tail feathers, and a black beak. The water surrounding the geese was cloudy because they stir it up.
    ~Differentiating between tiny minnows and tadpoles. Tadpoles tend to stay closer to the bottom of the water, while minnows are usually found closer to the surface. You had to watch closely for the tadpoles, for if you looked hard enough, you saw the tadpoles, some of them being huge with a big head, start to squirm very fast. The tadpoles left squiggly tracks in the soil.
    ~Old beaver dams and practice beaver dams. The old beaver dams had branches and sticks still kind of clumped together. The practice dams looked like miniature dams with sticks and branches and brush clumped together, with a little waterfall near it.
    ~Active beaver dam, which was much larger in size than the old dams and practice dams.

Later, Students were asked to go to a spot that they wanted to observe more in detail, then write them down. They split into two groups. One group has their observations on this website. The other group has a website, the link of which is below.

Observation: Poison Ivy

Fuzzy vine wrapped around tree tightly

Can have solid vine also wrapped around poison ivy, this solid vine is very strong

Poison ivy can be right next to the tree

Poison Ivy tends to be wrapped around trees with rough bark they are skinny with high branches

There is very little asian grass around the poison ivy section. This area of the woods is not as open as other areas, there are a lot of trees. No active animals were around except a squirrel.

    Most of the trees are dying here
     There are few leaves left on them
     Ivy grows up the tree very high, and is brown and fuzzy
    Some of the ivy goes up the tree, other wraps around
    Cloudy, probably why the forest looks dark, no really noise except a bird chirp or squirrel rustling

The other four students did an observation website:

Our Pictures from Huntley Meadows

Overall the students learned a lot about the meadows through observation. They also learned much about the ecosystems that existed in wetlands and forests, and how they are all interconnected.