There’s so much to write! Who knew two days could be so
densely packed! I rode in a van with Kaeli, Elizabeth, Ella, Devin, and Tim.
Nisqually River Delta
Visitor Center:
We arrived at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National
Wildlife Refuge around 9:00 AM on October 14
th. As we unloaded from
the vans, we were met with a drizzle that would persist off and on for most of
the day. The temperature was probably around 50 degrees, so it was not at all
of a shock to any of us. We walked about 150 meters to the Visitor center,
which overlooks an oxbow lake. We spent about an hour under the pavilion,
looking through binoculars and scopes, identifying birds we spotted. Below is a
thumbnail sketch of the lake, which also extended and meandered off to the left
of my sketch.
The lake was characterized by a shoreline of grasses and
cattails, and a tree line no more than 2 meters from the main shoreline. There
were also small “islands” of grasses interspersed on the lake. In fact, the
lake doesn’t have much bare surface area; it is very marsh-like, with grasses
popping up even in the middle of the lake. The trees growing along the lake
shore are deciduous-mainly big leaf maples (Acer Macrophyllum) and red alders
(Alnus rubra).
I researched a bit about the Nisqually refuge, and I found
out that the permanent freshwater oxbow lake is a not a natural oxbow lake, but
was built in 1970 by manipulating water from wells around the Brown Farm.
However, the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually refuge is the largest tidal marsh
restoration project that has ever occurred in the Pacific Northwest, where 762
acres were reconnected to the Puget Sound ecosystem by removing dikes in 2009. This
restoration project increased the potential
salt marsh habitat in the southern reach of Puget Sound by 50%.
Wetlands have extremely high
species diversity, and we were witness to that. The Nisqually delta is a haven
for many kinds of birds, especially water fowl. This is due to the high
concentration of microorganisms in the shallow water. We saw five different
species of birds at the lake, which included the Ring-necked duck, the American
Wigeon, the Pied-billed Grebe, and the American Coot.
There were two ring-necked ducks
together, a male and a female. The male ring-necked duck is easily identified
by the distinct white ring around its bill, peaked head, and black body with
gray sides. The females are brown, but also have the same white ring around its
otherwise black bill. They are a diving species, and seeing them dive in the small
pond was fun, because I would try to pinpoint where they would pop back up.
Not five meters to the right from
the ring-necked ducks was a trio of three different bird species; the American
Wigeon, the American Coot, and the Pied-billed Grebe. We identified the wigeon
by its black tail feathers, white crown, and its white bill. The coot was
distinguished by its black body, orange eye, the way it swims like a chicken,
and its beak (not bill). The chunky bill, “cut off” rear, fuzzy look, and
compact body helped us pinpoint the grebe. The wigeon looked significantly larger than
the other two birds. I thought it was really surprising that they were all
huddled together. A theory for this is that when the grebe dives, it dredges up
food for the Wigeon and Coot.
To our left, we saw a flock of
Cedar Waxwings in a red alder tree with orange leaves. The Cedar Waxwings were
very beautiful, but they looked kind of like bandits with the black markings around
their eyes. Their heads have the same feather growth as a Steller’s jay, with
the crown that extends beyond the back of its head. The waxwings had really
gorgeous orange highlights on the wings and around the head.
To the right of the waxwings, a couple
of Starlings were perched on a snag. I found out that Starlings were introduced
to New York. They were introduced by someone who wanted every bird found in
Shakespeare’s works to be available to birdwatchers in the United States. I
learned that Starlings are an invasive species that take over habitats like
snags that would be perfect for native species. Kaeli also told me that
Starlings are the birds that create intricate patterns of flight, which are
called murmurations.
Overall, the biodiversity of the
freshwater wetland we observed was due to many factors. The generally mild
temperature and shallow water create a perfect habitat for birds to feed and
rest, and the foliage provides good hiding spots as well. This would not happen
if this area had not been restored, allowing the oxbow lake to exist with
maintenance by refuge staff.
Nisqually River Delta Twin Barn/ Estuary:
Next, we walked from the visitor
center down the trail towards the division of the freshwater and saltwater
marshes. At the beginning of the trail, we saw a Northern Flicker foraging on
the ground to the left side of the trail. It was about 75 meters away from our
group, and with our binoculars, we could see its beautiful spots and red
cheeks.
We continued towards the twin
barns, where we walked past a large open wetland plain, with a sparse tree line
about 500 meters away from us on the left, where we could see at least a
hundred birds resting in front of them.
We paused to look through the scopes. We saw flocks of Canada geese,
pintail ducks, mallard ducks, and cackler geese. When we were identifying the
wigeon from earlier, I almost mistook it for a pintail, so it was fun to see
the difference between them. Pintails have very long and elegant tail feathers!
Kaeli was the one to tell us that the Cackler geese weren’t actually Canada
geese, and are identifiable due to their shorter necks. I also saw a Great Blue
Heron resting by an alder tree, and two bald eagles closer to the barns. Then,
we saw a Harrier Hawk flying above. We were able to catch a glimpse of the
unmistakable white patch at the base of its
tail. The wide open space allows huge flocks or birds to rest together, which
is not possible at the enclosed lake by the visitor center.
Picture of the wetlands where the birds rest
Sketch of the Alder Trees where two bald eagles sat
At the grassy area to the right
of the barns, there were tons of tree frogs. The frogs varied in color, from
brownish to bright green. Individual frogs change color due to temperature and
moisture content in the air. They come down from their homes in the trees in order
to mate, which is why we found so many frogs hopping in the grass. They were
really adorable. I never get tired of seeing tree frogs.
Then, the group headed up the
trail towards the division of the salt and fresh water marsh. The landscape was
bare, with snags and grassland in the foreground, and mud flats in the
background. As soon as we turned onto the trail, we saw a black tail doe
feeding on the plants to our right on the right side of the trail, about 50
meters away. Then we turned left to view the estuary. Estuaries provide rich
nutrients that occur due to the mixing of the freshwater from the river and the
saltwater from the Puget Sound. I’m interested to know if we were seeing a low
and high salt marsh. It was kind of far away to tell. Lots of invertebrates
live in the mud flats, so many sea birds flock to feed there. We couldn’t see
any of the birds from where we were, but the kind of birds that would be
feeding include sand pipers and dunlins.
Picture of our view of the estuary
MIMA MOUNDS:
We drove about 45 minutes to get
to the Mima Mounds, where it was raining when we got there. From an observation
point, we could see the massive sprawl of the mysterious pimple mounds. The oak
savanna ecosystem of the Mima mounds is one of the last to exist in Washington
State, and is maintained by humans in order to preserve the unique species that
only live in the oak savannah. Historically, oak savannas were maintained by
Native Americans through burnings. The land was used to plant food, such as the
camas plant. Some question the reasons for specifically burning the oak savanna,
but the reason is probably that the foliage of the prairies catches fire easier
than that other vegetation zones.
The real mystery is how the
mounds got there. Theories include recession of the Vashon glacier leaving
sediment from sun spots, fluvial deposition from vegetation and flooding,
erosion, earthquakes, giant gophers, and volcanic eruption. The soil is
different and younger than the glacial till below, so it can’t have anything to
do with the glacier, and there are no layers in the soil, and the gravel is
randomly dispersed, so it can’t be due to fluvial deposition. There is a trace
of volcanic ash in the soil, but it wouldn’t make sense for the mounds to be so
even in size and placement. I have a theory, but it’s kind of out there. I
believe that Native Americans built the mounds for some unknown purpose. We
know they aren’t burial mounds, but they could have been built for some
cultural purpose that we don’t know about. So much of Native American culture
has been effaced since the time of white settlers that it is possible that the
reasoning for and the tribe who built the mounds disappeared with time or
disease. Local tribes don’t have legends of the mounds, but maybe there was a
reason to not talk about the mounds. No natural causes make sense- they all
have huge loopholes.
We walked out onto the prairie,
where the rain stopped.
I noticed that ferns tend to grow
on the North side of the mounds, although that’s not always the case. It’s hard
to say if vegetation patterns due to location on an individual mounds actually
occur. There’s shading from the forest, and shading from the other mounds
around. One growth pattern I noticed was that the reindeer lichen never grows
on the very top of a mound; only in between or on the sides. I believe that
this is due to the fact that the tops of the mound get too much sunlight, and
the moisture flowing down the mounds is more conducive to its growth. I
identified several plant species that grew on the mounds, including the Oregon
white oak, yarrow (which smells absolutely heavenly), harebells (so delicate
and dainty), kinnikinnick, lupines, and lady ferns. The lady ferns were reddish
brown in their decay, and the kinnikinnick bore berries. The soil was course,
and full of rather large gravel chunks. I learned that lupines are nitrogen
fixing members of the pea family. This is a hint to the fact that the soil may
lack Nitrogen on its own. I researched a little about oak savannas, and they
are characterized by poor soil. Makes sense!
Mima Mounds: Quarry and exposed mound
We walked into a quarry, where we
could see the gravelly deposits left by the Vashon glacier, where we could
distinctly see the sediment layers formed by glacial rivers. Some layers had
heavier sediment than other layers, due to the swiftness of the stream during
different years and seasons. Then we walked about 300 meters to the exposed
mound, which looked completely different than the layers of the quarry. In
fact, there were no layers. I could see where the glacial till stopped, and
where the mounds began. The soil was darker, and the gravel and sediment had no
pattern in placement. All of the rocks were relatively the same size, but there
was no indication of fluvial deposit. This totally adds to my theory! If Native
Americans built the mounds, then the soil would have to have been churned up,
therefor destroying any previous deposit patterns. The Mima mounds are very
spooky. Almost as spooky as Tim’s hairdo!
We left the mounds around 2:30 PM
in order to beat the “storm”. We drove to pack forest. I am in love with pack
forest. I could live there.
DAY 2
I woke up at 5:45, and it
actually wasn’t horrible. We went out to the parking lot where the vans were,
and we looked up into the trees. Tim called for a pygmy owl. I learned that
when you’re trying to lure birds, you should always start with the smallest
calls first. Pygmy owls are fairly territorial, so they will check out what’s
going on if they hear another pygmy owl on their turf. Unfortunately, it was
pretty rainy and windy, so the owl never came down. However, there was more
than one pygmy owl, and we might have started a scuffle, because they started
calling back and forth to each other!
We headed for the mountain at
8:30, and we stopped at the Kautz creek landslide location. In 1947, heavy rain
resulted in a debris flow that tore down old growth forest. We could see
remnants of the old forest and the debris, where old logs and large boulders
littered the forest floor. This new forest had some key characteristics: Young
Douglas Firs make up the canopy layer, effectively blocking out light for other
trees. However, Western Hemlocks grow on top of nurse logs that litter the
floor, due to their shade tolerance. Western Red cedar snags also stood in
between the Douglas Firs from the previous forest. The forest floor is covered
in moss, which is due to the lack of light caused by the competition for light.
Alders are also common in new forests, because they are hardy in disturbed or
poor soil. However, this forest was in the stem exclusion phase, so there were
fallen Douglas Firs.
***Fun highlight: As we were
leaving the parking lot, a gray jay flew into Kalie’s hand full of trail mix! ***
We then headed off to the Twin
firs trails, where we explored the lowland Old Growth Forest. Old Growth
Forests are identified by the acronym
Big Trees: in
this case, old cedars and Douglas firs
Uneven Canopy:
full of vine maples and red alders, due to more light availability
Nurse logs:
Dead logs, often the tops of old growth trees that break off during wind
Snags:
Standing dead trees
Also, old growth forests have
high decadence, which describes a high level of decay (such as nurse logs).
This decay helps new life that utilizes the retained water and rich nutrients.
Snags provide important habitats for birds and insects, and are also a facet of
decadence (they’re decaying too!).
We identified many types of
mushrooms and lichen, which are abundant in the moist and dark forest.
PICTURE OF THE MUSHROOM STUMP
We headed to a bridge that
overlooked the Nisqually River. We were handed a photograph of what the valley
looked like in 1904, and compared the difference between the views today. The black ice in 1904 carved out the entire
valley. We could see the trim line towards the left, but it was hard to compare
depth towards the right side, because the photo is pretty blurry. I can assume
that the exposed basalt on the cliffs was created by the glacier, and that the
rocks left at the bottom of the river were also remnants of the receding Vashon
glacier. I decided to fiddle around with my binoculars, and subsequently found
a pair of fluffy mountain goats grazing next to a waterfall. That was probably
the highlight of my trip; I felt proud for having spotted something no one else
might have found.
We left the bridge, and we headed
towards the final push of the trip- Paradise. I was actually really
apprehensive about the hike, because I’m kind of a weakling when it comes to
cold weather. When we arrived, there were several inches of snow on the ground,
and it was 34 degrees. I was pretty nervous. But when we stepped outside, the
view of the mountain peaks and subalpine firs took my breath away. I can see
why John Muir loved it so much, who described Paradise as “the most luxuriant
and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in
all my mountaintop wanderings”.
The trees were very small, but
when we reached a felled tree, we saw that the trees are actually very old, and
had very condensed rings-they just grew so slowly because of their harsh
conditions.
We hiked a mile and a half
through the subalpine firs, with their conical shape and flexible branches,
until we arrived at the moraine. The Nisqually glacier is an awe inducing
sight. Looking East, we could see the glacial river flowing down the valley. It
was really nice to be able to see the anatomy of a glacier in real life. We
could see where the ice pushed the gravel and rocks, and the glacial river
flowing down from it. Although the view was gorgeous, it was also depressing.
The Nisqually glacier has receded so much in the past three years, where you
can see in the photo below. In 2013, the glacier extended towards the far edge
of the light colored sediment.
Seeing the fast-receding glacier
is a good reminder that our actions have swift and significant impacts. Rachel
Carson wrote: “In nature nothing exists alone”. Humans are not exempt from
this- we must treat the Earth as a symbiotic partner, not a tool for our own
gain.
SOURCES
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Billy_Frank_Jr_Nisqually/about.html
http://nisquallydeltarestoration.org/about.php
http://faculty.washington.edu/wgold/bes489/020409.pdf
