Liehr- January 2015

This month, I went down to two different spots in Blunn Creek. It was an amazing day with no clouds in the sky and a temperature of 73 degrees. The wind was a bit strong but being inside the preserve stopped a bit of the wind from getting into where I was located.

The first spot I was at was at the creek pass close to the edge of the preserve. I choose this place first because I love the sound of running water and I wanted to be able to hear it. Sadly, sound pollution is very big because of the roads and highway. I could hear the water, birds, and wind in the trees but there was the constant conflicting car sound in the background. Being by the stream was very cool. There was not fish or guppies but the water was very shallow so I don’t think that they would be able to live in the water anyway. I also did not see any other animals the whole time I was there. I could hear them but they were hesitant to come out which I don’t blame because while I was out there, five different parties walked through the creek and another party that was on motorcycles driving through the preserve. Even though I did not get to see any animals, I know that they use the creek for water because I was able to find two sets of tracks in the soil surrounding the creek. There was racoon tracks and some type of dog/wolf track.

The second spot that I was at in Blunn Creek is the little overpass right off the walking path. It is a balcony that is high above the creek, equal with the tops of alot of the trees. Being located in the canopy, I could definitely feel the wind stronger. The pass does not seem like it would have any animals except for maybe a bird or random squirrel every now and again but the view you can see is amazing. Because you are so high up, you can look for bird as well as watch the beauty of when the wind blows the trees and moves them like a wave. Once the green starts to return to all the trees, a sea of green will appear and it will be so cool to watch. in the words of Aldo Leopold, “ Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stage of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language”(96).

Before posting this post,I went back to Blunn Creek to get GPS location. It was raining today so the ground was all muddy and the creek was flowing faster. Since the ground was wet, I was able to find clear tracks of what look wolfish. The creek is most definitely used as a water source for these creatures. It will be interesting to go back and try to find more tracks to see if this “wolf” constantly uses the creek or if it was just a one time stop.