Plant Nature Walk

This week, I went to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir for my nature walk. It was a beautiful clear and cool morning after all of the rain that came through Boston yesterday. I went in with the intention of trying to notice and find new plants that I typically do not pay attention to on my regular walks. Finding moss was fairly easy. It was bright green and on top of a rock that was still damp. I was also super excited to see the Ginkgo tree with its iconic yellow coloration in the fall. I really enjoyed seeing all of the plants, but it is definitely much more difficult to name the plants than the animals that we find. There are usually multiple options that look similar to the plant that I found, and in that case, I choose the more general taxonomic level. In addition to the plants that I observed this week, I noticed that all of the animals I observed had some interaction with the plants nearby as I was watching (the squirrel hiding by the tree and eating an acorn, the mallards using the plant to hide, and the canada goose walking through the grass to find some food. This week's nature walk showed me how easy it is to take the beauty of plants for granted and how important their role is with the rest of the environment.

Posted on October 15, 2020 12:15 AM by sarahkc