Event map:
While down at the waterfront this week, I noticed some very drastic changes to the landscape in my area. Because of all the rain this week, the lake’s water levels rose a lot and it caused the area to look very different. The place where I observed the sandpipers last week was completely covered with water and much of the small Black Willow woody shrubs were also totally or completely under water. In addition, I observed the there were a few new small streams leading from the tree area out into the lake, which was not there two weeks before.
Outside of water levels, I also noticed that the dominant tree species, Eastern Cottonwood, has lost all of its leaves and the small shrubs, possibly bittersweet, near the edge of my site have yellow berries that have just begun to turn red. Despite it being so late in the season, many of the smaller shrubs have remained green. I wonder if this is because they remain green and remain alive all season or maybe they will begin turning or dying off very soon.
The last few weeks at my site have been very similar, but this week, the area has had many drastic changes having to do with the water levels and the leaf changes and I am excited to see how much it will change once the temperature begins to drop more and we get deeper into the seasons.