lokakuu 25, 2020

Third Journal Post

All observations were taken with my iphone 8.

This week was very chilly in Mount Vernon Iowa, so most of my observations were taken on different days that were a little warmer because some days I wouldn’t see much of anything alive and moving. My observations of the Tribe Pteronemobiini and Fox Squirrel were taken on October 22nd, 2020. It had rained in the morning and was cloudy the rest of the day and 50 degrees fahrenheit. The next day on October 23rd, 2020 I took a picture of Star Rosette Lichen. It had stormed a lot in the morning and was roughly 41 degrees fahrenheit. My last observation I took this week was of American Asters (not cultivated) on October 24th, 2020. It was cloudy and 37 degrees fahrenheit.

I have liked how I’ve been taking pictures the last two weeks so I repeated those steps. I opened by phone and went to the camera. I zoomed in and out to focus on the organism I wanted to capture, and snapped the most clear picture I could get.

Identifying organisms is very tricky. For the Tribe Pteronemobiini, a feature that helped me identify what it was was its color and texture of its backside. The Fox Squirrel was easier to identify because it had a big fluffy orange tail, and gray body. Next, the Star Rosette Lichen was very hard to identify. There were many suggested options that looked just like it. The one thing that stuck out to me was the black/dark blue circles that occured in the center of the fungi that looked very similar to the star rosette lichen photos. Still uncertain if I chose the correct species. Lastly, American Asters weren’t too difficult to identify. They looked just like the suggested photos for american asters.

I was surprised with how much the Tribe Pteronemobiini and Fox Squirrel organisms were moving since it was a very cold week. The Fox Squirrel came right up to me which was a little scary, and the Tribe Pteronemobiini was jumping around the sidewalk for a few minutes.

Even though class is ending this coming week I will continue using iNaturalist because I had a lot of fun learning about what type of organisms are around me.

Julkaistu lokakuu 25, 2020 05:40 IP. käyttäjältä maddalindoran maddalindoran | 4 havaintoa | 0 kommenttia | Jätä kommentti

lokakuu 18, 2020

Second Journal Post

All observations were taken with my iphone 8.

I took pictures of my four observations on different days. My observation of the viburnums was taken on October 12, 2020. It was sunny in the afternoon after the rain in the morning and roughly 61 degrees fahrenheit. My observation of the trichaptum was taken on October 13, 2020. It was cloudy and 66 degrees fahrenheit. The next day, October 14th, 2020, my observation of scarites was taken in sunny and 71 degree fahrenheit weather. My last observation was taken on October 15th, 2020. It was sunny and 50 degrees Fahrenheit when I took a picture of the wolf spider.

I used the same methods for getting a good picture with my camera as I did last week. To repeat those steps: I turned on my phone and went to my camera, zoomed in and out to focus on exactly what I wanted to emphasize, tapped the screen to put it in focus, and snapped a few pictures to get different angles. The wolf spider and scarites were hard to get different angles of because they moved in different directions pretty fast.

To better describe my habitat, I took all of my observations in Mount Vernon, Iowa. It’s fall so a lot of things are dying, but the weather is pretty consistent around 50 and 60 degrees. It’s been 70 degrees a couple days which is pretty surprising for October in Iowa. My pictures were taken on a sidewalk near tall grass, on a tree that was blown over from the derecho a month or two ago, on the soccer benches next to some cut grass, and right by another tree that wasn’t blown over. My habitat is pretty consistent with a couple trees, tall and cut grass, and a nearby sidewalk.

Since the last visit there has been a lot of changes. A lot of leaves have fallen and things are looking brown and dead. This week has been sunny so I was lucky to find a variety of organisms unlike if it was rainy or snowy.

The Scarites beetle was moving a lot and the same for the wolf spider. It made it hard to capture a clear photo. The viburnums looked to be decaying because it had some brown patches on the leaves. The trichaptum looked super interesting. I have never seen a cluster of fungi like this so I was super happy to find them.

To reflect on my experience, I need to be more patient with the fast moving organisms. It’ll be hard next week to find organisms because it is getting significantly colder, but I just have to be patient.

Julkaistu lokakuu 18, 2020 05:30 IP. käyttäjältä maddalindoran maddalindoran | 4 havaintoa | 0 kommenttia | Jätä kommentti

lokakuu 11, 2020

First Journal Post

All observations were taken with my iphone 8.

I took pictures of my four observations on different days. The observation of the Fall Field Cricket was taken on Thursday, October 8th, 2020. The Weather was sunny and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The observation of the Minute Pirate Bugs and Hooded Sunburst Lichen was taken on Friday, October 9th, 2020. It was also sunny outside and 79 degrees Fahrenheit. Lastly, my observation of the Medics was taken on Saturday, October 10th, 2020. It was sunny and 67 degrees Fahrenheit. I noticed that on Saturday it was colder than the previous days I took pictures, and that was apparent with the lack of bugs I saw around me. I don’t know if that was due to the time of day or the temperature, but I would have to guess that temperature played a part in that.

I turned my iphone on and went to the camera. When taking a photo, I zoomed in and tried to put the organism in the center of the image to allow the viewers to know what I was trying to emphasize. I then taped the screen to get it to focus on the organism so I could get the clearest photos possible. I uploaded two different photos for each observation; trying to get a different angle for each organism.

I looked around Mount Vernon to see where I could spot a lot of organisms including plants, vertebrates, invertebrates, fungi, etc. I ventured by the soccer fields and the houses that surrounded the soccer fields and found a lot! Some yards had long grass which helped because I felt like there were more bugs and plants in those areas.

Right near the soccer fields I spotted a cricket on the sidewalk that wasn't moving. I noticed that one of its legs was missing. It made it a lot easier to take a picture especially because I am afraid of bugs, but I felt bad so I moved it into the grass. The next day I went back and as I got near the soccer fields I felt something on my arm. I attempted to get the best picture of the minute pirate bugs that were on my arm without freaking out because they were biting me. I thought they were gnats at first until I snapped some pictures. A couple minutes later I spotted a tree in the area with a lot of lichen on it. I never realized how textured lichen is, so that was cool to look at. The next day I spotted some plants near peoples’ houses. As a little kid I would always go out looking for four leaf clovers with my sisters, so I liked the look of the medics because they had leaves that looked like clovers.

To reflect on my experience, I will be using my camera the same way I did for these observations because I feel as though they turned out pretty good. I will also try to get better angles of the organisms for next week.

Julkaistu lokakuu 11, 2020 07:41 IP. käyttäjältä maddalindoran maddalindoran | 4 havaintoa | 0 kommenttia | Jätä kommentti

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