Unravelling

  This week I made only two trips to the soccer field. One of my observations was used in my last blog since I had no other observations for the prior week. Thanks to this I made sure to observe everything as closely as I could in order to jot down everything and anything that caught my eye.
  This being said I (once again) noticed the fallen leaves all over the field and the exact same question popped into my head "where do these come from?" I took a lap around the entire field hoping to find a hidden tree releasing all of these leaves, sadly I had no success and really gave up trying. This time unlike the others I picked up some of the leaves in order to classify them as coming from the same tree or not. There were two types of leaves: a brown, widely spread and a burgundy small crunched up leaf. This helped me realize that there are two trees providing the field with these leaves. Perhaps the trees across the street. 
   Remember those mysterious white feathers that appeared on the field and suddenly disappeared a week later? They're back.
   As I was looking around for a tree to my leaves I was surprised by not one but four white feathers (not exact but somewhat similar to those in my field notes from October 6th) just sitting so calmly on the dead grass. So I picked one up. Went home and did some research. It was sort of difficult to find a website that helped me narrow down my bird options since I had not seen the bird and only had it's white feather as guidance. I did some research that isn't very convincing (speaking for myself)  but regardless came up with a bird species. 

     My result was a Western Gull. Although I have not seen these birds at the field, I am sure I've seen them around town. I have not been to the field in quite some time so I have not been able to confirm this but will definitely go out there soon and do so. 

                                                                      Works Cited

Picture: Pickering, Phil. "Herring Gull vs. Western Gull." Herring Gull vs. Western Gull. Greg Gillson, 2000. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.

"What Was the SIZE of the White Gull-like Bird You Saw in Nevada?" Identify a Gull-like               Bird Seen in Nevada by Size. Mitch Waite Group, 2005. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

The End

  Everyone knows we were eliminated from the High School soccer season much earlier than we hoped.
  Due to this I have not made many observations in the past two weeks, since I have now been going home right after school. I have definitely strayed away from my observation and lack much motivation.
  Last week I finally decided it was time to go back (not alone) in order to carry on with my project. Tuesday, November 11th 2014 at 2:40 p.m.  Although I only visited the field one day, I noticed many things that were rather startling. The vibe given off by the field was very depressing. It felt like a cold school morning accompanied by annoying loud kids (the cars exiting the freeway played that role) making you regret waking up and being there. After the warm welcoming I noticed that both sets of bleachers were still up but was rather surprised that the goal boxes were put behind the fence closest to the rode by the freeway. If I'm correct around this time last year we had already take them down, providing help to the custodial staff and the softball team.
  Once I walked passed the bleachers I was stunned by how much healthier the grass appeared "looks like a very poorly cared for garden with green, yellow and brown being it's focal colors. Yellow is actually a nice welcoming yellow, and doesn't look as dead  as before..." Field Notes Tuesday Nov. 11, 2014 2:40. This was very surprising to me as I honestly did not think the field would not improve in condition after the season. As I walked around I noticed some green sprouts unfolding within the brown dirt patches we had helped tear up with our cleats. This brought a smile to my face. Being that the grass was so pure just sprouting, it resembled turf. Very short and fake, plastic looking. I've never really watched grass grow and was eager to observe it's process throughout the next couple of days but I sadly gave up and didn't go back that week...