My Nature Circle

I decided to take a walk into a field near my house where I usually like to walk my dog; in the day I’ve seen all sorts of life here taking a night stroll here was quite interesting and fun. After picking a clear spot to sit, I cut the light and submerged myself into the darkness to embrace of this alienated beauty for twenty minutes. With the moon above me, and with nothing but nature around me, I sit as my eyes adjust. Here, this evening there was a cool western breeze and crisp moist taste in the air. Here being stil,l I began to pick up on all of the sounds, there was steady tempo of crickets chirping to be heard; later when I got home I looked into crickets chirping, and I found that only the male cricket chirps. I always thought that the cricket would create the sound by rubbing their leg together, but I discovered that this was not true, they produce the sound by rubbing the top of one wing along the teeth of the bottom wing. I also found that there is a correlation between the sound rate and temperature, if you count the number of chirps over 14 seconds and then add 40, you would get the Fahrenheit temperature.

Listening to more sounds, I heard an owl’s screech somewhere above me, and another unknown bird in the distance.  As I sat here quietly I seen twenty or so rabbits (probably Desert Cottontail) hopped to feed on some grass, I was amazed to see how many there were, I am not sure if they live in groups or gather to eat in the same area. As my eyes adjusted I looked to see what was growing around me, I spotted some Californian buckwheat, and some white sage; from what I know, both plants were used by native peoples for edible and medicinal purposes. I also found the buckwheat is great for attracting beneficial insects.  As I was getting ready to leave I heard a pack of coyotes yelping in the distance, wondering if they were just playing or closing in on their evening prey.

    Doing my observation at night was a great experience, there’s much contrast compared to the day. Usually, I wouldn’t hear as many sounds or see as many rabbits congregating to fest. It was great to learn about the crickets and their chirps, I think I might try and check the temperature by chirp next time.

http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_erfa2.pdf

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Zoo_p055.shtml