maxdau's Journal

As I walked down the sidewalk, I noticed plenty of organisms as usual. Insects were crawling along the pavement, and birds were flying in the sky. Squirrels chittered as the looked for their next meals, and the grass rustled beneath their feet. Trees swayed in the gentle breeze, and bushes swished as the wind blew through them. It was a peaceful day, albeit a bit dreary, given the weather. It was rather cold, and the sky was gray and overcast.

While I was walking to my usual spot on the tri-hall lawn, I noticed some lichen growing on one of the trees. It interested me - despite being a rather normal occurrence, it had never really came to my attention before. I crouched down and looked more closely, and what I saw intrigued me. The lichen was white and green in color, and clung very closely to the tree - it was almost flat against the bark on the trunk. I took a photo of the organism and went on my way, making a mental note to research it later.

I'm not sure of the exact species of this lichen, so when I entered in the observation, I merely identified it as a "common lichen". After entering the photo I took on iNaturalist, I took some time out of my day to google the class of the organism I identified. I learned that Lecanoromycetes is the largest class of lichenized fungi, and that the class contains ten orders. I think this class is an interesting one, and I may read more about it in the future.

On this particular October afternoon, the weather was temperate, and there were plenty of organisms out and about. The wind rustled the trees and blew through the grass, and flies buzzed through the air. Birds were flying about, and chirping - as were the crickets hiding in the grass. Squirrels ran about the sidewalks and climbed the trees, chittering at each other here and there. It was a beautiful day, so I decided to have lunch outside on the tri-hall lawn.

As I spread out my blanket and sat down, I noticed many insects that came to greet me. There were ants, big and small, and many varieties of flying insects. When I began to eat, however, a much larger insect came my way. It seemed to be a type of ground yellowjacket, and it was interested in my food. I put a used ketchup packet down on the blanket, and it sat down on it to investigate - that was when I snapped the photos you can see in my observation.

I often sit on the tri-hall lawn to have dinner, and this particular evening was no exception. As I was walking there, I noticed many organisms - I could hear crickets chirping in the grass, and the trees swaying in the wind. When I got to the tri-hall lawn, I spread out a blanket and sat down. I was immediately surrounded by many insects - flies would land on my clothes, and ants would crawl onto the blanket. Birds chirped in the nearby trees and occasionally fluttered down onto the sidewalk in front of me.

What really caught my attention, though, were the squirrels. I saw two or three of them skittering around, climbing trees and snooping through trash cans. The squirrels on campus are quite used to humans, and often venture close to us in search of food - likely used to being fed by some students. When one squirrel came within 20 feet of me, I started to imitate the noises they make, and it came closer, probably thinking I was going to offer it food. It was then that I snapped a few photos of the unwitting animal. Once the squirrel realized I wasn't offering it a snack, it ran away, probably to find a meal elsewhere.

In my photos, you can get a good look at the squirrel's face, its brown tail, and its white belly and chest. I included these photos specifically because you could see these features better than you could in the other photos I took.