The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Snails, fish, insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located.
March 6, 2013
Pacific Northwest
Raining, temp mid-40s
This day was a wet one, raining all day long, never very hard, but steadily. The amount I reported to CoCoRaHS, the citizen science precipitation network, for that 24-hour period was 0.46". That's quite a bit, considering the total annual precip in the area I live is only about 20". I'm in the rainshadow of the Olympic Mountains which block a lot of the moisture that keeps most of western Washington famously damp. But almost all of that comes between October and April, so it wasn't surprising to have a nice soggy late winter day like this, hardly any wind and not too cold either.
I like to get out every day regardless of the weather for fresh air and some exercise, and to see what's going on in nature in my neighborhood. Even though it was fairly dark, the rain had drenched everything, and the wintry colors were more intense, being wet (that's the same reason I keep pretty stones in containers of water - the otherwise drab colors jump out when wet).
Here are some wet winter plants on my walk, starting with some wet Madronas (Arbutus menziesii):
(sorry about the the wet splotches on the images - raining on my camera - oops)
Spent fern fronds:
Neither of these kinds has started putting out this year's shoots.
Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum):
There are a few old alder "cones" on the ground here too.
Bracken Fern (Pteridium aquilinum):
Ferns are often found with mosses of course. Mosses are difficult to identify without looking at the reproductive structures (difficult even then!)
Also seeing lots of worm castings (black oil sunflower seed husk for scale):
The ground is pretty saturated right now, and the worms are busy. There are quite a few earthworms on the surface these days, even on the road, coming up to avoid drowning. The robins make short work of them. What to do, if you're a worm?
The naked rose bushes are red. Big thickets of
Rosa nutkana, one of our native Rose species:
Closeup of a branch:
I liked the raindrops clinging to the thorns
and from Redcedar leaves (
Thuja plicata):
Some plants are showing signs of spring, like Snowberry, with its delicate leaves and distinctive opposite branching:
Oregon Grape (
Mahonia aquifolium) is flowering yellow:
as is Soapberry, aka Soopolallie or Buffaloberry (
Shepherdia canadensis) if a bit less conspicuously:
The common name comes from the fact that the berries can be crushed and used as a soap. Native Americans also whipped up the berries to make a tart foamy "
ice cream."
The underside of the emerging leaves of Soapberry are a lovely russet color. Right now their thickets are a mass of reddish brown and yellow:
All these pretty winter colors are worth a walk in the rain.
So, what's going on in your backyard - on the ground, up in the trees, in the sky? Any sign of the comet yet? Where are you and what do you see?