BCI 1 - Observing Nature

Thursday, Jan 26th 2023 - Kelsey Round Lake, Andover MN

Kelsey Round Lake is a park only 5 minutes away from my home. I first visited here with my mom last Summer in 2022. It’s a park that has a bit of wetlands, forest, and prairie. When I visited, it was about 19 degrees F with some sun peaking out through the clouds. Wasn’t too terribly cold for Minnesota, but it was still cold - the slight wind would prickle against my bare face.

Because of the cold, I would walk several minutes before stopping, while still standing, to observe and absorb my surroundings. When I got too cold, I would begin walking again. I would make the occasional stop and risk taking my hands out of my gloves to take photos of whatever I felt drawn to.

I found it interesting how the snow would create this bubble affect on the ground, I think it’s because of the wind pushing and stacking. I only found this in the wetlands.

The bubbly pattern reminded me of the texture of clouds. The sky and the ground kind of looked familiar.

It may have been freezing, but at least the sun was shining through.

Found some green in the lichen on the trees. Did you know lichen is an organism that is formed from alga and fungi? Different kinds of lichen are composed of different kinds of alga and fungi, with the occasional additional partner of bacteria.

During my reflection on the walk through Kelsey Round Lake, I noticed patterns on how different kinds of trees grew. I noticed that in winter there’s a lot of color through blues, oranges, and browns.