Monday, June 8, 2009

Observation 5

Mouse House
Date: June 8th
Time of Day: 4:49 p.m.
Temperature: 48F
Weather Conditions: cloudy
Wind Conditions: slight to no breeze
Soil Conditions: moist
Hypothesis: site has changed

It finally looks like it is summer down at the Mouse House.  The extensive rainfall made the colors vibrant and thriving. The aspens have reached full maturity; their branches are thick with leaves. The grass surrounding the site has grown about 5 inches since my last observation.  Also, a grass patch has spurred up directly in the Mouse House, poking out of its southern side.  I saw a male and female grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) interacting with one another. They seemed to have been teasing each other; perhaps this is a mating ritual. I saw two R-strategist organisms today.  One was a fly (Phormia regina) and the other was a spider ( Achaearanea tepidariorum) which was colored yellow and gray. I thought this coloring could be related to aposematic coloration, mimicry, or polymorphism. 

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