Diario de sophiap_1888

This afternoon, I went on a walk with my friend around the Pine Tree Preserve and the Reservoir for about an hour. The weather was surprisingly warm for a late fall day, and the fall foliage looked beautiful surrounding the water. As I walked, I was first looking for any pine trees as those were the first gymnosperms that came to mind. I saw plenty of smaller Eastern White pines, as well as their pinecones strewn about the ground. I thought back to our class lecture a lot when looking at these pine cones, as it was so weird to think about how they were the reproductive structures of these pine trees. I saw lots of mosses along the bases of trees, often around the same areas as lichen. For a polypodiopsida, I found what seemed to be a Marginal Wood fern, which was rather large. Lastly, I saw lots of different angiosperms within the preserve, which made me happy to see that they all hadn't succumbed to the colder weather yet.

For this week's nature walk, I once again walked around the Pine Tree Reserve and the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. Today was the perfect fall day, as it was still bright out while still being a little bit chilly. I was also surrounded by the beautiful foliage that is starting to change colors and fall to the ground, which added to the beautiful environment during my walk. I started walking around 4:30, and walked for about an hour. Immediately I came across a white mushroom, which I guessed could be a possibly be a white dapperling. Unfortunately this mushroom had a piece of duct tape stuck to it, which was impossible for me to remove without ripping the mushroom. This nature walk was definitely a bit of a challenge to try and find a lot of different fungi, as the Pine Tree Reserve is very small. I managed to find a huge grouping of what I assumed to be banded mottlegills along the side of the walking path, and then later on I found another mushroom that appeared to be the same type of fungi, just with a slightly different coloration. The most interesting fungi I found was what I thought to be a Dyer's Polypore, which was growing out of the ground and looked to me like a small head of lettuce.

Today for my first nature walk assignment, I went for a 45 minute walk in the Pine Tree Preserve here at Boston College, and I also walked a little bit around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. The weather was beautiful out when I was walking, as it was sunny and not too windy, as it has been the past few days. I noticed a ton of what seemed to be Common Blue Wood Aster near the paths as I started my walk, and I saw a lot more of it spread around the preserve. One of the more unique organisms I saw while walking off of the path was a sort of fungi growing out of the ground, which I identified as a Dyer's Polypore. I also saw another type of fungi, a Weeping Widow, which seemed easier to identify as it seemed to have more of a stereotypical mushroom look. There were lots of Eastern Gray Squirrels scurrying on the ground and up the trees, many of them with stuffed cheeks as they prepare for winter. I also saw a few chipmunks particularly around the reservoir, so I snapped a photo from as close as possible.