My Naturalist Journal
By : Ayanna Ama Gray
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Day 1: May 10, 2004
Time: 10:00
We saw that some of Mommy’s recently planted bulbs had been dug up and chewed. We think that either squirrels, chipmunks, or rabbits ate them.
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The Native plantscape down the street is only green plants right now. Robins and Morning doves are chirping , and the hostas around the neighborhood are growing. A red flowering bush is blooming further down the street. A robin is looking for worms,. Lavender and fuchsia groundcover flowers have a funny pollen/mildew smell, and their leaves look like grass.  The grass itself is very wet with rain and dew. Dandelion seeds are flying through the air so fast that is looks like snow! There are new ferns growing. Waxy leaves on a bush, it looks like it’s made of rubber, has big pink buds on it. A pine tree has new needles on it that are soft, and lighter in color than the rest of the needles, and on each new bunch of needles there is a sticky brown coating/shell.
I found a small fungus mushroom.
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Day 3: May 12, 2004
We didn’t get outside yesterday because of being sidetracked, but today is warm and bright out, and there is a warm breeze that moves the trees. No birds are chirping, but a cardinal and a robin are looking for worms and bugs in the grass. The Native plantscape is getting more colors. There are lavender, yellow, red, and white flowers sprouting there now. The leaves  on our oak tree are getting bigger everyday. There is a very strong smell of pollen on the street. A sweet-smelling bush with white flowers has a similar smell, but the actual smell is from the Russian olive tree in our backyard. Joy tried to catch a robin, but it flew away. She got about 5 feet away from it, though. We found out that the rubber bush is called a Rhododendron bush, and it bloomed light and dark pink flowers. There is also a bush that has spiky purple flowers on it. It had a lot of bees on it. I saw more mushrooms in the same place as before. The air smells like pollen.
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Day 4: May 13, 2004
It is warm and humid out today. I feel random raindrops, and the sky is gray and cloudy. The oak tree leaves haven’t grown today, and various birds are chirping. The rain is steadily getting heavier, and I can see raindrops on the street. The hostas are getting bushier, and growing wider.
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Day 4: May 14, 2004
Our chokecherry tree is blooming white flowers that have a mild pollen smell, and the petals are flying through the air. Birds are chirping, and the wind is blowing softly. The native plantscape is really thriving off of the rain that it received all week. A bug tried to fly up my nose. The dogwood trees have shed most of their petals, and the ground around them looks covered with over grown snowflakes. I saw more big mushrooms in the same spot. Over the week, the oak tree in our yard has had these strings on the leaves that looked like they had brown dead flowers on them , but they all fell off today.  Two robins visited the bird bath today.