outside

For my environmental science class homework this week i had to go outside and just observe nature for 20 minutes, observe as much as i could. i chose a spot by my house off of victoria avenue in riverside. above are a few pictures for you so as you read you can know what i was looking at.

The first thing i noticed was the wind, it was quite a windy day today. The wind was chilly too, and it caused there to be noise as it passed through the plants. there was also a lot of different plants in the area, some had little plaques with the names of the plants to identify them. There was a lot more trashed then i had expected as i observed, but then again this place wasn't far from society, but still more than i had expected. I saw gum wrappers, trash bags, cigarette butts, mostly tiny things though. right after, i noticed a small green bug flying right past me, all i was able to get out of looking at it was its color which was green and thats it. A also saw a june bug or two. There was also some birds chirping. Actually, there was a lot of birds chirping, and many different bird noises, as well as some birds singing. i heard about 15 different bird noises or so. It seemed as if a few of them were even communicating with one another. Also, as i looked in the sky, i could see some flying birds, as well as a couple airplanes. when i looked down, i noticed ants after a while. the more i looked, the more i noticed there were ants everywhere along the ground. Not big piles of them, but small groups of a few everywhere i looked, perhaps scavenging for food. i noticed some gnats flying around also around a few plants, perhaps trying to stay away from the cool air by staying close to the plants. There were a few joggers/ walkers/ bikers every minute or so. i didn't see any spiders, but i had noticed some spider webs, so there had to have been spiders. i heard noise coming from the bushes behind me but had seen nothing. at first i assumed it was the wind, but it didn't sound like the wind normally does as it breezes through the plants, so it had to have been something i just didn't catch fast enough to see. i noticed there was a cactus like plant by me, which i later remembered was agave from class. As i looked at the ground again i noticed that there was random plants here and there growing from the ground. i also noticed a roly poly as i was staring at the ground. as i was leaving, i noticed some nails stuck into one of the bigger palm trees, as if someone had put up a yard-sale sign with a nail to hold it. this was a sort of vandalism as well as a hazard to the tree. One of the trees in the area i was able to identify by the name of schinus molle, and another as a saucer magnolia tree.

There had definitely been a lot more abiotic things than biotic things in my list, although that could have been from the fact that perhaps i was not observing hard enough or the fact that it wasn't in a place that was mostly nature. I feel as if though i wasn't quiet enough, because i was jotting things down in my notebook so i wouldn't forget them, but would like to do this assignment again, perhaps in a more secluded area next time. Or maybe even do it in the same area but at different times of the day and at different times throughout the year.