Site-Backyard
Date-May 12, 2008
Time-7:23 P.M.
Temp. 38 degrees
Weather-warmer and the sun has melted the majority of the snow, barely any left. Rain sprinkled a little which caused a slight chill.
Wind Conditions- Medium winds through the valley.
Soil Conditions- snow is still melting and its giving the grass and land fresh waters and minerals. That is helping vegitation alot.
Hypothesis- little flowers will start to grow by next week.
Notes-Tons more birds flying around. I am starting to see way more animals like buffalo and elk. They are and have been eating all the new growth that has been growing in the fields. Skys are nice and clear blue. That meens that it is a little colder outside and hints to us that we are going to have warmer weather soon. Fish have been jumping out of the surface of the water and have been swimming closer to the surface. Which says that there is vegitation in the water and they are coming to the surface to eat there foods. Spots in the grass like patches and it is very dead grass. water is low
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Mute Swans
Swans are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with related geese in the other family Anserinae. Swans usually mate for life, swans have a type of divorce which sometimes occurs, mainly because of nesting failure. The number of eggs in each nest ranges from three to eight eggs. The word "swan" is taken from Old English word swan, just like the German Schwan and the Dutch zwaan, from the Indo-European root swen which meens to sound, to sing. Young swans are known as cygnets, from the Latin word for swan. An adult male is a cob which meens leader of a group. An adult female is a pen.
Swans are highly intelligent and remember who has been kind to them, or not. There behavior is they respond in kind and gentle ways. They do not usually attack people, and will only bite if they feel threatened. They are more aggressive during the nesting season because they need to protect their nest and eggs. Nesting season usually starts in March and lasts a few months until they can go off on there own. Mute swans have sharp vision and hearing. Although they don’t have a call they have a variety of sounds to get across there emotions. For example they do a gentle bleating noise. also a head to tail long snort sometimes along with them raising there heads and feathers and start to become fluffed, to tell that they are happy. If you want to tell if they are a male from a female you have to pay close attention to there feathers and colors. They look alot alike, but if you look close, you can tell one from the other. First of all males are larger than the females. Also the neck of a male is thicker than the neck of a female.
The Northern Hemisphere species of swan have pure white feathers, but the Southern Hemisphere species are mixed black and white. The Australian Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) is completely black except for the white feathers on its wings, and the South American Black-necked Swan has a black neck. The legs of swans are dark blackish grey. The bill color can often vary. The four main species have black bills with different amounts of yellow, and all the others are patterned red and black. The Mute Swan and Black-necked Swan have a lump at the base of the bill on the upper part of there head.
Mute swans weigh from 6.5 – 13 kg (14 – 30 pounds), are about 160 cm (5 feet) long and can have a wingspan up to 2.5 meters (8 feet). A swan has about 25,000 feathers. Swans in a protected environment might live as long as 30 years max. Swans eat aquatic vegetation and insects, even tiny fish and tadpoles. They are not in competition with ducks and smaller water animals for food. They actually help the smaller birds when parts of plants they’re eating float to the surface.
Evidence says that the genus Cygnus evolved in Europe or western Eurasia during the Miocene, spreading all over the Northern Hemisphere until the Pliocene. When the southern species branched off and its not known. The Mute Swan apparently is closest to the Southern Hemisphere Cygnus and its habits of carrying the neck curved (not straight) and the wings fluffed (not flush) as well as its bill color and knob show that its closest living relative is actually the Black Swan. Swans eat lots of grass in the waters and spend lots of there time in the water.
Swans are highly intelligent and remember who has been kind to them, or not. There behavior is they respond in kind and gentle ways. They do not usually attack people, and will only bite if they feel threatened. They are more aggressive during the nesting season because they need to protect their nest and eggs. Nesting season usually starts in March and lasts a few months until they can go off on there own. Mute swans have sharp vision and hearing. Although they don’t have a call they have a variety of sounds to get across there emotions. For example they do a gentle bleating noise. also a head to tail long snort sometimes along with them raising there heads and feathers and start to become fluffed, to tell that they are happy. If you want to tell if they are a male from a female you have to pay close attention to there feathers and colors. They look alot alike, but if you look close, you can tell one from the other. First of all males are larger than the females. Also the neck of a male is thicker than the neck of a female.
The Northern Hemisphere species of swan have pure white feathers, but the Southern Hemisphere species are mixed black and white. The Australian Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) is completely black except for the white feathers on its wings, and the South American Black-necked Swan has a black neck. The legs of swans are dark blackish grey. The bill color can often vary. The four main species have black bills with different amounts of yellow, and all the others are patterned red and black. The Mute Swan and Black-necked Swan have a lump at the base of the bill on the upper part of there head.
Mute swans weigh from 6.5 – 13 kg (14 – 30 pounds), are about 160 cm (5 feet) long and can have a wingspan up to 2.5 meters (8 feet). A swan has about 25,000 feathers. Swans in a protected environment might live as long as 30 years max. Swans eat aquatic vegetation and insects, even tiny fish and tadpoles. They are not in competition with ducks and smaller water animals for food. They actually help the smaller birds when parts of plants they’re eating float to the surface.
Evidence says that the genus Cygnus evolved in Europe or western Eurasia during the Miocene, spreading all over the Northern Hemisphere until the Pliocene. When the southern species branched off and its not known. The Mute Swan apparently is closest to the Southern Hemisphere Cygnus and its habits of carrying the neck curved (not straight) and the wings fluffed (not flush) as well as its bill color and knob show that its closest living relative is actually the Black Swan. Swans eat lots of grass in the waters and spend lots of there time in the water.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Observation #2
Site-Backyard
Date-May 7, 2008
Time-7:35 P.M.
Temp. 41 degrees
Weather- sunny during the day then got very cloudy which caused it to rain which caused slight fludding in some areas.
Wind Conditions- wind stopped after the rain started to fall. After rain ended later there was a slight breeze
Soil Conditions-Rain helped vegitation alot. helped the flowers and trees start to growing. It dampened the soil and caused certain areas to be muddy.
Hypothesis- Grass will become alot greener and lots more vegitation will form by next week?
Notes-Lots more birds and animals starting to appear. Snow is practically gone and that means it melted so the water will help the grass and wildlife. It also rained that will help all sorts of animals. Since water is melting which is causing drout it will push underground animals out to the surface and we will be seeing all different types of animals and plant life. Birds appearing all over and eating more food some nesting in trees and finding places to live.
Date-May 7, 2008
Time-7:35 P.M.
Temp. 41 degrees
Weather- sunny during the day then got very cloudy which caused it to rain which caused slight fludding in some areas.
Wind Conditions- wind stopped after the rain started to fall. After rain ended later there was a slight breeze
Soil Conditions-Rain helped vegitation alot. helped the flowers and trees start to growing. It dampened the soil and caused certain areas to be muddy.
Hypothesis- Grass will become alot greener and lots more vegitation will form by next week?
Notes-Lots more birds and animals starting to appear. Snow is practically gone and that means it melted so the water will help the grass and wildlife. It also rained that will help all sorts of animals. Since water is melting which is causing drout it will push underground animals out to the surface and we will be seeing all different types of animals and plant life. Birds appearing all over and eating more food some nesting in trees and finding places to live.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Observation #1
Site-My Backyard
Date-May 6, 2008
Time-7:00P.M.
Temp. 43 degrees
Weather-slightly cloudy-light drizzled rain-ice and snow starting to melt very damp and wet in grass areas-dirt starting to show on cleared areas- vegetation starting to form-trees starting to grow again
Wind Conditions-slight breeze every now and then-calms down and heats up pfrom sun
Soil Conditions- getting damper and starting to produce healthy grass and flowers when all snow is gone
Hypothesis-flowers start growing and healthy grass comes up in about a week?
Notes- Deer ran through yard-starting to migrate. Deer droppings through-out yard. Temperature is warming up over the weeks. More and more snow melting everyday. Birds feeding off of bird feeders and starting to come back. More growth all the time. Cat starting to hunt outside again and bring in mice and varmits. Pond starting to fill up and flow again.
Date-May 6, 2008
Time-7:00P.M.
Temp. 43 degrees
Weather-slightly cloudy-light drizzled rain-ice and snow starting to melt very damp and wet in grass areas-dirt starting to show on cleared areas- vegetation starting to form-trees starting to grow again
Wind Conditions-slight breeze every now and then-calms down and heats up pfrom sun
Soil Conditions- getting damper and starting to produce healthy grass and flowers when all snow is gone
Hypothesis-flowers start growing and healthy grass comes up in about a week?
Notes- Deer ran through yard-starting to migrate. Deer droppings through-out yard. Temperature is warming up over the weeks. More and more snow melting everyday. Birds feeding off of bird feeders and starting to come back. More growth all the time. Cat starting to hunt outside again and bring in mice and varmits. Pond starting to fill up and flow again.
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