Amber blogging

Tree Book
I decided recently that since I’m going to be doing this kind of stuff for the rest of my life, I should probably get serious about learning local species. For my birthday, a friend of mine made me this little journal with blank, unlined pages in it. I’m going to take that journal and fill up the pages with drawn pictures of all the common local trees and some that aren’t as common but still show up. Maybe I’ll throw in a few rare ones, in case I run into them. I’ll probably draw the general leaf shape and make-up (simple, compound), something about the bark, the general shape of the tree, and any identifying characteristics like a trademark smell or flower or seedpod. I’m also going to try to learn the scientific names as well as the common names. Finally, I also want to try and learn some of the common invasive and exotic species in our area. I feel like the only things I could identify right now are buckthorn and garlic mustard. So I’d like to learn the basic invasive species. It’d be even better if I could have a general idea of what a tree might look like if it were diseased or infested with pests. Heneghan tells me this is a skill that takes years to learn, but I’m hoping that I’d be able to identify a tree crawling with Asian longhorn beetles or ravaged by some kind of blight. I’m pretty excited about this little project. Summer is a good time to do this and I feel like I’ve already got a head start on it because of what we’ve learned in class. Once finals week is over, my tree book project will move fully into action. Yay!