Nature Nerds

Liam and I drove from Anacortes to Widbey Island on Monday the 6th of July. We arrived at South Widbey State Park under the cover of overcast skies. Our first outing took us to the beach. We found a tree fort, amazingly colored rocks, and few other people. I guess not a lot of people walk the beach on an almost rainy day. We were also happy not to have too many neighbors at the campground as most people left on Sunday after the holiday weekend.

The highlight of the trip was hiking through the three hundred acres of Old Growth forest. Although not all of that three hundred acres host old growth stands, Liam and I had a lot of fun playing naturalists. We focused on identifying local flora and fauna as well as determining the age of the various forest stands through which we passed. Here is a list of the flora and birds we identified in the forest:
Brown Creeper
Song Sparrow
Brown-headed Cowbird
Crow
Morning Dove
Hairy Woodpecker
Flycatcher of some kind
Rufus-sided Towhee
Black Capped Chickadee
Chestnut Backed Towhee
Winter Wren
Red Breasted Nuthatch
Wilson's Warbler
Varied Thrush
Pigeon Guillemot
Glacuous-winged Gull
Silver Fir
Douglas Fir
Big Leaf Maple
Foxglov
Red Elderberry
Sword Fern
Red Alder
Bracken Fern
Stinging Nettle
Western Hemlock
Pacific Dogwood
Thimbleberry
Ocean Spray
Dear Fern
Salmon Berry
Trailing Blackberry
Grand Fir
Skunk Cabbage/Swamp Lantern
Red Huckleberry
Evergreen Huckleberry
Horsetail
Salal
Oregon Grape
Western Red Cedar
Holly