Mollusk Discovery

I only recently learned that octopuses, which are part of the group known as Cephalopods (alongside squids, nautiluses, and cuttlefish), are actually MOLLUSKS!

It's super cool. 

  And there is a certain Cephalopod which I find to be incredibly interesting, not to mention beautiful:
the Blanket Octopus.

• These incredible creatures, which truly do resemble silk blankets floating through the ocean, are scientifically known as Tremoctopus violaceus.

Its full taxonomy, sufficiently lengthy and extravagant to match the creature itself, is Animalia Mollusca Cephalopoda Tremoctopodidae Tremoctopus.

 Even just looking at these simple, still photos -- even without seeing the creatures actually in motion -- it is easy to see both where they got their name, and how lovely they are.








As a group, Cephalopods have a number of marked characteristics:

• They swim with jet propulsion.
• They have a parrot-like beak at the center of their tentacles.
• They have large, well-developed eyes and remarkable vision, particularly in areas with low light.
• The coloration of Cephalopods varies, but they generally have passive and/or active camoflauge.
• Also, they are able to make a dark in cloud.
• They are active hunters with a wide diet.
• They breed in shallow or surface water by means of the male delivering a sperm packet.

What's more, the Blanket Octopus is far from the only beautiful or bizarre Cephalopod; they're all unique and frightfully interesting, particularly in their coloring and intelligence.

For example, take the Blue-ringed Octopus:

These beautiful octopuses are found in the Pacific, and are among the most venomous creatures in the world.  They are absolutely minuscule (around five inches) and yet a single one has enough venom to kill up to 26 grown humans!

Of course, it isn't just octopuses that are so gloriously decorated (although they alone can change the literal texture of their skin).  Squid, for example, can literally flash light.  Cuttlefish can change their colors into fantastic patterns.

The Flamboyant Cuttlefish is a prime example of this magnifiscent coloration:

These creatures are found in the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific region, in shallower depths.  Adept hunters, these venomous Cephalopods seem to able along the seafloor.

There are octopuses which can change themselves to look like other creatures, or to look exactly like their surroundings.  There are cuttlefish, as well, which can alter their own appearances to look exactly like the opposite sex of their own species.

. . . The silk tapestry remeniscent body of the Blanket Octopus is thought to be its defense mechanism, meant to intimidate predators. 

To see a video of this beautiful display, click here!

Crustaceans and Echinoderms

Crustaceans and Echinoderms, while sharing many of the same watery homes, are more different than they are similar.

One singular similarity between the two sorts of creatures is that they are both invertebrates.

However, there is an absolute plethora of differences:

• Crustaceans have bilateral symmetry, whilst echinoderms have radial symmetry.
• Crustaceans have hard exoskeletons, and echinoderms have endoskeletons.
• Echinoderms are far more sessile than crustaceans.
• Echinoderms leave behind tests, which are their endoskeleton remains; crustaceans do not.
• Crustaceans go through molting, while echinoderms do not. 
• Echinoderms move with their tube feet, but crustaceans move with walking feet.
• Crustaceans have segmented bodies, but echinoderms do not!
• Echinoderms have spiky skin made of calcium carbonate, but crustaceans in turn have jointed legs and feet (they're arthropods). 
• Crustaceans have more complex nervous systems than echinoderms. 

 Here are some photos of these nifty creatures, followed by their taxonomy (scientific classification):

First, some echinoderms... 

Animalia echonodermata asteroidea spinulosida acanthasteridae acanthaster planci

http://digital.library.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/pview.exe?CISOROOT=/garst&CISOPTR=60&CISORESTMP=/garst/html/garst_template1.html&CISOVIEWTMP=/garst/html/garst_template2.html&CISOMODE=thumbnails&CISOROWS=2&CISOCOLS=4

 Eukarya animalia echinodermata asteroidea forcipuladita asteriidae pycnopodia helianthoides

http://cdn1.arkive.org/media/2B/2B9B3E72-D665-4A7D-9560-EBBC4A9EA908/Presentation.Large/Sunflower-star-predating-on-sea-cucumber.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.arkive.org/sunflower-star/pycnopodia-helianthoides/&usg=__nDmv2q-hz2DlvHVvxYv2oALDSyQ=&h=430&w=650&sz=68&hl=en&start=12&sig2=otTd6j2dicNxjqnnxmD7Mg&zoom=1&tbnid=24J6xqnnvxy2vM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=137&ei=5rV_TZKgNeG40QG8gpWDCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsunflower%2Bstar%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D576%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C228&itbs=1&biw=1024&bih=576

Eukarya Animalia Echinodermata Asteroidea Forcipulatida Asteriidae Pycnopodia helianthoides

http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/ensy02/gorgonocephalus/baskcentre.jpg

Now for some crustaceans!
Animalia arthropoda malacostraca  decapoda graspidae graspus

http://digital.library.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/pview.exe?CISOROOT=/garst&CISOPTR=1158&CISORESTMP=/garst/html/garst_template1.html&CISOVIEWTMP=/garst/html/garst_template2.html&CISOMODE=thumbnails&CISOROWS=2&CISOCOLS=4

Eukaryota animalia metazoa arthropoda crustacea malacostraca eumalacostraca eucarida decapoda pleacyemata brachyura

http://laterallineco.com/blog/2009/01/page/2/&usg=__Pgw7mTWFH2PYdRV2flYOysRuBQ0=&h=391&w=500&sz=432&hl=en&start=0&sig2=aeP-Ts80l9TOvKj_LZdcRA&zoom=1&tbnid=vtIwPRSRNHuvBM:&tbnh=134&tbnw=190&ei=lLN_TYOLMKq40QGm2c2TCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dblue%2Bcrab%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D576%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=231&oei=lLN_TYOLMKq40QGm2c2TCQ&page=1&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0&tx=120&ty=101

 Metazoa Arthropoda Malacostraca Decopoda Ocypodidae Ocypode

http://www.aquaessence.com/image/store/0/productImages/ghostCrab.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.aquaessence.com/index.cfm/m/38/fuseaction/store5products.productDetail/productID/120/merchantId/0/departmentId/0/categoryId/34&usg=__eUNLBJS4sd8tLdPmkif7wIkZN5U=&h=480&w=640&sz=37&hl=en&start=0&sig2=3MfruFZc4ymHWjFpmGFgyg&zoom=1&tbnid=Yc90pZsgBb2K9M:&tbnh=133&tbnw=201&ei=pLd_Ta31AY6atwfG2entCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dghost%2Bcrab%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26gbv%3D2%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D576%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C95&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=522&vpy=136&dur=245&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=162&ty=128&oei=lLd_Ta3oI8-gtgew2oXOCA&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0&biw=1024&bih=576

 Check out this AWESOME video of a nocturnal sea star!

Signs of Spring! Hooraaay!

Simply as a preface, I'd like to say that I am trying a new blog format with today's observations.  (I feel so technical and modern saying that.)  Normally, I do a separate blog for each site or sign, but I am going to do them all together today! I hear that many of my peers do this anyway, and I am simply late on the uptake.

The excursion we went on yesterday was simultaneously eye-opening and throat-closing.

It was beautiful.  At 63 degrees, I could hardly have asked for more idyllic weather.  As if I needed any more proof than how lovely it felt, Spring was obvious in almost every place we looked.  Unfortunately, it was also -- very literally -- in the air.
Sign One

As soon as we exited the school, Spring was essentially in our faces in the form of a bevy of budding trees.  From afar, these

The shading is poor, but this little bunch of buds is really a lovely rose color.

looked like an abundance of soft red speckles adorning the slender branches.  The lawn, I noticed, was remarkably well-groomed (probably thanks to some of our splendid students) and the breeze could only be described as feeling completely soft and cool.  Even the sun was not overbearing; I love Spring. I find it rather funny that the only birds I could hear were not the typical, tiny songbirds of spring scenes but the rather more boisterous guffaws of crows and perhaps a seagull.

Sign Two
After meandering at different paces down to the edge of the bus barn, the class finally made it to the edge of the woods.  My throat tightened in fear of all of the lovely flora, and my nose itched, but I was glad to be going into the woods on such a pretty day regardless.

It seems like only a few days ago that freezing rain could be expected at any time, and yet I was greeted with the unabashedly cheerful sight of new, peridot-colored buds opening to the sunshine.

Right alongside of this desiduous display were the ever-bright green needles of a pine tree, lingering from winter.  Upon closer inspection, however, it was apparent that there were some new female pine cones budding up in preparation for polenation.

The almost nonexistant breeze here rustled the graveyard of leaves blown up against the edge of the woods and I, even in my cashmere sweater, still stood comfortably in the sun (although my upper respiratory system may not have been too comfortable).

Sign Three

Hyperventilation seemed to be my impending fate as I neared the pond at the head of the group.  As we got close enough to see the sparkling water, little, decorative bunches of pollen flanked us on both sides.

Here is an example of the neat-looking but evil pollen in question.

You may notice the decided absence of geese in the watery background where they had been only a couple of weeks ago, or even less.  The only honking to be heard in this area now is the sad, metallic honking of school buses.

But, to counteract that melancholy fact, there was a healthy spattering of small, green buds on the trees around the pond, and we found a bizarre little growth on a sapling that we supposed was an insect nest of some sort.  I took a picture, but my phone would not take in the colors well enough to differentiate between the growth and the wood itself.

Not only was the pollen more intense here, but so was the sun.  Though it was still pleasantly golden, it was much brighter and a little more difficult to deal with.  Thankfully, a persistant breeze counteracted the garish heat.

Sign Four

This sign was (and forgive me for being so ridiculously, laughably phobic) a little bit scary.

I was totally facinated by the delicate, deep red spring growth that Mrs. Richardson showed us.  As I stepped off of the path and followed right after her, I kneeled almost while walking just to get a closer look at the vibrant, unadorned little limbs.  But, as I inspected this more closely

... I also found another sign of life: SPIDER!

Albeit, it was a very tiny spider.  And perhaps it was more scared of me than I was of it (although I doubt it).  However, I was still not too keen on the idea of taking its photo, so I scurried off with even more speed than it would have if it hadn't been in the center of its own delicate web. 

Shortly after this disturbing incident, Mrs. Richardson attempted to get us all to quiet down.  As I stood in place, waiting for the rest of the class to follow her directions, I strained my ears to hear more than the whispering of my peers or their crunching footfalls.  To my happy surprise, I soon heard the faint trickling of water, which I suspect to have been carried up to me from the small creek we have observed before.  I also heard wind, but it was distant, more the voice of wind that the actual sound.

It was warm here. and there were intermittent beams of sun, but the shade kept me and my sweater comfortable.


And as an epilogue, I might mention that there were two other spiders spotted on the way back.  Argh!  Spiders and alergies are the bane of springtime.  Thankfully, I am too in love with the flowers and the weather to let that ruin the season!

Bottom Dwelling Ecology of the Graham Cracker Marine Reserve. . .

A Biofilm Plate Simulation!


... and a scrumptiouis one, at that.

This lab was, for me, some much-needed fun. 

Using background knowledge that we've acquired in this class, such as that of benthic organisms and the substrate, as well as learning about some new things about the spawn of certain shellfish and biofilms, the class created a simulation of a well-known marine science experiment.

In the experiment itself, a plexiglass plate is suspended in the ocean with a biofilm layer over it upon which organisms can settle and cling.

Our graham crackers were, in theory, much tastier than plexiglass (though I am not too fond of the food).  The biofilm, however, was quite good: frosting!



This shows the first stage of growth in the experiment.

The LifeSaver gummy represents the bolt used to secure the plate in the experiment, and the sprinkles show the settlement of red coralline algae, diatoms, and barnacles.

My little frosting marine life center was slightly short on species (apparently all of the coral and oysters went floating on by into the sea, as is represented by sprinkles missing the cookie).

Also, there were not enough of any of them to merit the gain of a marshmellow (a fully matured organism).

Thus, the second stage of the experiment looked remarkably similar to the first.



Algae in the Cupboard

I ransacked the house.

I think I disturbed my poor mother who had, with my help, just organized the pantry.

I was determined not to appear as though I hadn't tried.  I took pictures of everything I could find in which algae derivatives are commonly used, and all of if was void of the magical ingredients: carrageenan, alginates, and beta carotene.

I searched the refrigerator: nothing.

This couldn't be.  My classmates had completed the assignment with ease -- what was wrong with my cupboards?

I came to school, guilty and empty handed, to ask Mrs. Richardson what I could do.

Sadly, I couldn't get to the store to take pictures of their algae, so I took another good piece of advice and, this next night, filtered through bathroom supplies.

At long last, I found it! I found carrageenan in my toothpaste!

That's right, my toothpaste contains an algae derivative.

My cell phone camera has quality to poor to see it, but the red circle is around the algae!

Plankton Wars (Arrghhh!!)

The piratical noise is there in the title because this day reminded me of pirates.  It involved war and water, and that was enough for my inner pirate to identify with.

Also, my group was pretty much Blackbeard, because our hypothetical plankton was victorious!

Our complex little plankton pirate at the end of its run in the tank (photo courtesy of Chris Colvin)

When I say complex here, I truly mean it.  I received some incredulous looks from my partner, Brandon, and the other people at the table as I continued to add onto Brandon's and my design (with constant input from said partner, however).

To begin with, a wooden toothpick was surrounded by light play dough.  Parallel at either end of this little post were small pieces of hollow plastic straw, blocked off with more pliable pink dough to retain air and buoyancy. 

Two hollow plastic cotton swabs criss-crossed across this apparatus.

Hanging below it all was a weight mechanism comprised of a rock held in between to soda tabs by play dough, held together by another toothpick, and suspended from the plankton by a small, zig-zagged piece of cloth which was in turn skewered by another toothpick around the main body of the plankton.

Whew.

Brandon felt here that our little pirate (well, he didn't call it that) would be better off with something to keep it from sinking too fast, and so we added the paper cupcake holder to the final toothpick.

And this is how Blackbeard the plankton was born!  I think that my group's attempt at balancing enough weight and sources of buoyancy was relatively successful.

In retrospect, Blackbeard could have been simpler.  The other winning team had a less extravagant format for their plankton, pictured below:

Karen, a member of the one other winning team (Captain Hook?) and her little plankton. (photo courtesy of Mrs. Richardson)

In general, however, the majority of the class's plankton prototypes were unsuccessful because they floated too easily.  Concerned that they would get poor times, my peers ensured that their little models wouldn't succumb to the proverbial craken of gravity.  However, the other plankton designs either floated on the surface of the water the entire time, or floated their until being tapped below the surface, at which point they plunged to the bottom of the tank.

Here I am with my prized war plankton:

Observation Site Four, Day Five

This site was awesome for a variety of reasons.

Mainly, because there were baby salamanders.

Sadly, I have no picture of said salamanders, but truly -- they were splendid.  They looked sort of like that creepy little lizard dinosaur from Jurassic Park with the fan neck that spread out while it hissed and shot acid.

Only, they were not creepy and they didn't shoot acid.  Nor were they lizards.

In lieu of an adorable salamander, regard this tiny waterfall of splendor.

My wonderful photographer for the day, Rosemary Harris, did happen to get a swell picture of a frog at this site (although I found my own shy little frog beside the waterfall, it ran away and refused to be photographed).

This is not the most amazing of pictures that Rosemary took, but I feel that she ought to be able to keep those to herself. :]

By this point, I did not want to go back inside at all, regardless of how thirsty I was.  It was warm and breezy, and people had actually quieted down in their yearning to return to school in time.  My favorite sound here was that of the water.


~~ All photos from this day are courtesy of Rosemary Harris ~~

Observation Site Three, Fabulous Day Five

And this site really was fantastical.

For the second time on this blog, I simply must reference fairies, because this bubbling little creek with its steep bank of vibrant moss is where they live, if anyplace.

Once we moved away from this almost frighteningly steep location, the ground leveled out and the creek took a straighter path.

We found various living creatures in the water, including water striders (which I have always found to be rather icky) and an adorable baby frog, which panicked and swam down to the bottom to hide beneath a leaf.

Even here in the shade, it was unusually warm, and the lively chatter of students continued.

Observation Site Two Day Fiiiiiive

This second site was a hint of new scenery to come, a glimpse of the sparse trees and tawny forest floor that made up the glades of today's expedition.

One of the trees, Mrs. Richardson hinted, was a tulip tree.  All of them swayed rather dizzily in some unseen, barely detectable breeze. 

I squinted into the treetops, attempting to find some unique little bird that had gone under the radar, but had no luck.

The only sounds now were (as the silence mandate had been lifted) students talking and the irate beeping of buses in reverse.

Observation Site One Day Five

On this truly gorgeous day, the class was out to count birds! (We found one seagull at a time, eight geese, and a crow).

However, we also did our usual observation sites!

And at site one, there were some geese! An absolute gaggle, really: eight whole geese!  It was warm and breezy, and the only sound was that of the buses and the occasional goose noise, as the class was under mass silent treatment.

Observation Site Three Day Four!

This third and final site was even more difficult to locate.  The conditions on the first and most algae-rich side of the pond  must have been most ideal, or perhaps it was the setting of the sun that made finding the final site so difficult.

But find it I did, however subtle it was.  The air was fast getting colder and I, in my pajama pants, wanted to get home and make a cup of tea when I came across this completely submerged bit of algae:

Even the geese had quieted down by this time, yet still remained, floating serenely along in the fading light of the evening.

I almost didn't want to leave the site, as it felt very private, almost zen in comparison to school.  But I had to go home and have that tea.

Observation Site Two Day Four :D

On the way to my site two, I saw some best friend geese floating along together along the opposite bank!

In spite of the lovely goose experience, however, I had a surprisingly hard time finding my next algae site. I had circled about three-fourths of the way back around the pond before I cam across a cheerful little outcropping of aquatic plants.  I think it was because this side of the pond was shadier, cooler as I walked across the boundary of trees and bamboo.  There were some disgruntled honks from my goosey companions, but otherwise the area around this photo was quiet, save for some wind:

It is darker in the photo than it was in person, but hopefully the little colony of algae surrounding this breached twig can be seen.

Site Observation One Day Four

On the official day for these observations, I was (sadly) absent from school, so I did not get to go on the epic walk of algae and falling trees here with Mrs. Richardson's class. :[

Fortunately, there is a magnificent pond right near my home! So, after school the next day, I made the trek back behind the house to seek out some fuzzy, green plant life!

This was the first and most bountiful patch of algae that I found.  It's absolutely thriving!

The first site I selected was at the bank of the pond nearest to the path, beside the pond's small wooden dock.  It was very quiet, much more so than observation sites at school, where buses and students' voices sound perpetually.

What's more, it was a wonderful day outside and only around five o'clock, so it was still quite warm.

Plankton Observations! How exciting...

This week, we didn't even have to leave the classroom to do some awesome observations; we had pond water!

So we grabbed some microscopes and got down to work observing microscopic life.  YAY, plankton!

This is a worm, tragically killed in the field of study. 

This first microscope shot is of a worm.  Due to its absence of plant characteristics, such as chlorophyll, it is a zooplankton. Though it is magnified, the worm was visible to the naked eye.  Thus, it is a macroplankton.  In addition, the fact that it is a worm means that it belongs to meroplankton, which are not plankton for their whole lives.  The worm had very obvious eyes and a mouth, further proving its animal nature.

The majority of the life we observed, however, was not so large, nor so obvious in its identity.




Here, we have a very faint appearance by a phytoplankton.

This "plant plankton" is, unlike the unfortunate worm above, a microplankton; it cannot truly be seen by an unaided human eye.  It is also classified as holoplankton, meaning that it is in plankton form for its entire life cycle.  In order to survive in its environment, this organism adapted to be free-floating, well in reach of sunlight and the ability of photosynthesis.

This slide provides a clearer look at the long, stranded holoplankton.  The green color of the chlorophyll is almost clear, even against a rather grainy image quality.

Similar to the photo above, this plankton is phytoplankton, in the oxygen-producing, photosynthesizing catagory.  However, its segements and green coloring are clear.  Still more phytoplankton clings to the edge of this image, appearing as green smudges.  On both phytoplankton slides, there is a noted lack of zooplankton qualities, such as flagella, marking these organisms for what they are.

This adorable photo is not of some new cereal, nor the inside of a kalaidescope.  It is sand from Star Beach, in Japan!

This sand is certainly exceptional.  This photo is particularly wonderful, considering that there appears to be a small crescent moon nestled amongst the star-shaped particles in the center of the photo.  It looks like these pieces of sand were, unlike most sand, living creatures at one point or another.  Some meroplankton, such as coral, becomes sand at one phase in its existence (after its demise, of course).

Observation Site Four Day Three!

This site was fabulous!

Why?

Because it was mushroom-themed.  Not that I'm some sort of mushroom fanatic, but it's hard to deny that they're pretty darn cool, and it's not so often that one finds a mushroom laying around in winter.

This was a little runt mushroom that I found after Mrs. Richardson discovered a larger one that everyone was taking pictures of.  I'm a mushroom rebel!  And look at the little blue dot.  I think it's a berry, and it was like that when I found it. :]

What may be even more fantastic is that the tree under which these mushrooms were found... looked like a giant mushroom! I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it, because the coincidence was just to swell.  But use your imagination. :D

This was also a cement graveyard, oddly enough, and on one chunk of cement there was a little pile of feces.  Woohoo!

My hands were numb by this point, but it was sunny and we were headed back inside, through the biting wind.

Observation Site Three Day Three :]

The next site was, as so many of them seem to be, a tree gravesite. 

This one was mottled with holes, evidence of birds and bugs, but also had a litte settlement of brown growths defying gravity as they emerged from the side of the wood. 

I know what it looks like, but I'm pretty sure this is not animal-made!

Dodging brambles as we crunched through the site, the road was still within earshot, but the air was getting colder (as it always seems to do the longer we are outside).

Observation Site Two Day Three

The next site was directly out of a birdy mystery novel.  It was carnage.

The forest floor, drowning in crunching pine needles and cones, was littered with evidence. . .

evidence of a murder!  Duck murder, that is.  There were enough duck feathers laying around to indicate that something bad probably went down concerning some little ducky.

Adding to the macabre air was the disconcerting sound of crows cackling just beyond the trees.

Oh, and we could also hear the road, which is a little less haunting but equally dangerous!

There was very little sunshine here so, standing beside the sad duck feathers, I shivered.

Observation Site One Day Threeee

The first site today was practically urban in comparison to what I've become accustomed to.  We were in the ninth grade courtyard.

Sadly, this man-made setting also came along with an ample supply of man-made trash.  Plastic cups, bags, napkins and gum wrappers littered the grass and shrubs.  The cheerful bubble of students talking and the aggressive hum of the vents over the commons area was fitting for where we were, but the sad state of the grounds was a little bit depressing.

Imagine my happy surprise, then, when I stumbled across this!

The Happiest (and Loneliest) Dandelion Ever

The air was warm, the breeze was cold, and this sunny little flower made me happier!

Site Four Independent Observation!

The next site found us again at a dead tree, but this one was particularly intriguing to me, as there was a very marked hole directly in the top of the horizontal log.

As you can see, it was large and padded inside with fallen leaves.  Maybe this is a stretch, but I had to document this as a sign of life because it seemed so likely to me that a small animal could very easily and comfortably take shelter here. 

The wind and air felt burningly cold to me at this point, but sitting on the tree was still pleasant. People were chattering animatedly by this point, probably eager to get back inside or go home.

Site Three Independent Observation!

The third site we visited was a little hard to maneuver.  There was an abundance of almost oddly green briars and more than enough loose sticks for me to trip on.  However, the dead dree around which we were gathered was a wonderful bench or balance beam. 

The site smelled like decay, and it was cold and shady, but I found an interesting little village of fungus or lichen on a fallen tree.  It put me in mind of Fern Gully (the animated movie), which is sorta' weird.

Right after I took this picture, my foot sunk in a startling hole that had been covered with leaves.  Fun fact.

Site Two Independent Observation!

Many people in the group had trouble with this site.  I found it relaxing.  

This is the view I took from my chill spot, laying on the forest floor. It wasn't so cold and windy down there, either. I particularly like the one splotch of green from the tree in the bottom right corner of my sky-view picture.

The ground was entirely carpeted with dead leaves, beneath which bits of moss or fungus could be found.  The chirping of small birds was aparent over the wind.  We learned it was a  chickadee, although I saw another small, brown and white bird which I couldn't identify.

I found a nifty growth of moss wrapped around a tree trunk right near where my head was when I layed down.

Site One Independent Observation!

Although today's expedition consisted of individual observations, the entire class set out with a common goal in mind for the first site: to be quiet enough to view the geese which we knew were floating on the pond through the woods.

Although the class at large was not exactly stealthy, the geese weren't spooked into flying away.  Instead, they simply evaded us as well as they could within the perimiter of the pond.  The geese were strangely quiet compared to their trademark honking, but the buses behind them and the cars on the road certainly weren't.  Other than that, the only sound was the wind.

The water was sparkling with sun, but the wind was cold.  It was hard to get a good picture of the far-off geese!

Observation Site Number Four! :D

At this point in the group's observations, my hands were utterly numb.  I'd forgotten my gloves but had volunteered to take observations anyway, and my handwriting at site four had become large and far less controlled. 

Traffic was now audible over the sounds of wind and leaves, and I was excited to get back into the warmth.  The sun's bright heat was almost taunting, not providing quite enough heat to combat the winter wind.  My toes, I feared, had frozen solid.

Our group searched the area for any sign of life, finally finding one resting in a crook of the large, dead tree we were inspecting.  It was a tiny, brown acorn which we hypothesize was split open and eaten by some woodland critter (probably a squirrel).  The squirrel snack is pictured above.

Observation Site Number Three!

Site Three was, in my opinion, the most fascinating of the day.  The wind had died down by the time we reached the point in the woods where the creek appeared, and the sun was warming us after having emerged from behind the clouds.

The wind could still be heard in the tops of the trees, but there was no running water.  A thin layer of ice had formed over the small pool, trapping autumn-bright leaves beneath cloudy natural glass. 

I know that, by this point, my hands and feet felt like they were frozen solid.  Looking at the frozen water, I almost felt surprised to see this tiny carpet of moss growing so close to the bank, and the ice. 

Observation Site Number Two!

The next site offered some relief from the sharp wind of the field's ridge as our group moved into the cover of the woods.  It was still cold, but the wind had certainly lessened.

We combed the immediate area for signs of life, listening to the sound of classmates' footsteps and voices.  Our group was not for lack of evidence by the end of this observation, as we found a patch of moss, some very hyped up rabbit feces, and an old leaf which seemed to have been munched on by an insect at some point in its life.