Vegetation Surveys day 2

We are done at EE Wilson. The vegetation surveys went smoothly today, probably because we didn't have to hike very far to, from or between sites. We watched a juvenile red-tailed hawk for quite some time. It's interesting because we saw it in the same site that I always see a juvenile red-tail in. I wonder if the hunting is ideal, due to the abundance of grass, berries, on not-too-dense forest (meaning the hawk can get in between trees easier). One thing I've come to realize about marshes is that they are blooming and vegetated year-round. There are these tall purplish flowers blooming that weren't there two weeks ago. In most places the heat is killing plants while at EE Wilson things just keep "popping" out of the ground. Amazing.

After we finished the vegetation surveys we decided to pick blackberries. While looking for berries I led us past some prune trees, wanting to see if they were Italian prunes like I'd been suspecting all along. They were indeed Italian prunes, little tiny ones, edible in two or three bites. Being at the peak of ripeness they were quite tasty. Julie and I picked enough to fill my cargo pockets. Funny thing about fresh picked ripe prunes is that putting them in your pockets can make quite a mess! I think we're going to juice them to make either fruit leather or slice and dehydrate them (I LOVE dried prunes). We also picked a large container of blackberries, for either baking, smoothie making or fruit leather making. I love living in the Willamette Valley, there is so much "wild" fruit available for harvesting. In fact we found ripe and plentiful huckleberries downtown (along the water front) the other day.

One more day of vegetation surveys, then Shrewsbury, then my last class of the summer, one more week of "vacation" and then back to school.