gabriellecalbo's Journal

For my nature walk, I explored the woods of the Brighton Campus. It was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky. I was surprised by the amount of plant diversity I saw. I was able to see mosses, gymnosperms and angiosperms. I was unable to find any ferns unfortunately. There were berries which I identified as Bittersweets and flowers identified as Common Even-Primrose so I was able to see the different ways angiosperms have evolved to ensure pollination and seed dispersal. I also saw two species of gymnosperms and how the structure of their leaves differed. On my way back, I saw a pinecone on the ground indicating the female gametophyte of a gymnosperm.

For my nature walk I went to Hammond Pond Reservation in Newton. My mom came up to visit so it was nice to walk around the woods outside and get some fresh air. The weather was fairly cool but sunny. It was so pretty to see the leaves falling around us. No one else was there but there were many squirrels and chipmunks running around. I was not able to see any fungi growing on the ground. The fungi I was able to find was mostly on dead trees. The lichen was on a live tree however. I hard a hard time identifying the fungi and telling them apart though.

I went to Edmands Park which is behind BC's Newton Campus. It was a beautiful day sunny day outside despite the rain earlier in the morning. It was admittedly colder in the woods without the sun shining directly on me. Even though I lived on Newton campus last year, I had never been to Edmands Park. I was quite surprised how many trails there were and the diversity of the woods. The trail I went on had a stream on the side and also a little field of flowers. That is where I saw the "sunflowers" but I was not able to get close enough though in order to make an exact species identification. At first, I had a hard time finding fungi but it became easier as I began to look at fallen dead trees. The small, white round fungus (which I believe to be Birch Polypore) and the large brown fungus were both on dead tree limbs. The other fungus I observed was on a live tree. There was a ton of moss everywhere. I found it on rocks and also trees. While I was taking a picture of the crisped pincushion moss, I noticed a spider was right underneath it. It goes to sure how we are surrounded by insects without always knowing it. Lastly, another thing I was surprised about was how many chipmunks there were. You could always see and hear them scurrying around in the leaves. Some were quite territorial and chased other chipmunks. I really enjoyed the ones that were stuffing fallen acorns into their mouths. I did see some birds such as a Blue Jay and Red Bellied Woodpecker but was not able to get a good photo. I had an overall pleasant experience and enjoyed the time outside!