Arnold Arboretum Nature Walk (EcoEvo and more...)
I set out on a small hike to Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University on September 30th, 2020. The weather was clear and in the 68 - 72F, and it had just rained before I departed for the Arboretum. With the hope of discovering some fungi, I wandered around the place for quite a while. To my surprise, I did not manage to find an abundance of fungi other than in the form of Lichens, which I believe is a symbiotic partnership between a fungus and an alga, with the fungus giving it most of the characteristics.
It was actually somewhat tricky looking for different wild organisms, and I believe it is due to the nature of Arnold Arboretum ultimately being some kind of a collective botanical garden with many of the major exhibitions and their immediate surrounding landscape regularly curated and up-kept. As a result, the wild organisms allowed to grow there might also be under some level of control.
Completing tasks aside, I brought my own DSLR and did a little bit of bird and wildlife photography. If there is one thing I learned today, it's that Blue Jays have a screeching loud song and they really despise staying still and getting their pictures taken. Sheesh!