At my site there is currently Red Oak trees, Red Maple trees, Paper Birch trees, Poison Ivy, Moss, a Single Eastern Whitepine, and I spotted a eastern gray squirrel. There was a high density of Red Oak and Red Maple trees which ended up covering the path in leaves. The Paper Birch trees are all concentrated in one area by the path allowing them to flourish as it has disturbed soil with a plentiful amount of available light for such a dense forest. Poison ivy was also found along the cleared path which seems fitting as poison ivy grows in high densities in disturbed land. The singular Eastern Whitepine is found in a portion of the path that has a more sandy soil in comparison to the remaining portion of the forest meaning this was planted by humans rather than appearing on it’s own. The Eastern Gray Squirrel was found in this prominently hardwood environment which is where they like to live.

Earlier in the season, during my previous two visits I had noticed mosquitoes, bees, and birds although during this visit they were no longer. This is due to the fact that we are now in the midst of fall and closer to winter than we are summer. Previously, there were flowers on some of the plants in the understory but this is no longer so the bees have nothing attracting them to this area anymore. The male mosquitoes have simply died off while the females have gone into hibernation with their larvae. The birds on the other hand have begun migrating south.  

Nearly all of the trees have their leaves gone and they are spread out on the ground covering some of the trail. The understory is overall less dense as some of it has died. The berries, acorns, pinecones are no longer on the ground as they are either covered by the dead leaves or taken and stored by animals. The soil is wet as there was a major rainstorm the day before causing the soil to be extremely moist. Since in order to get to our spot the topography has a major elevation gain causing lots of access rain to flow down the hill. Mapping out the area has given me a new perspective as before I had only thought of things from a ground level perspective. It made me realize the unique characteristics of our particular area as it was at the top of a greater slope compared to the area surrounding it .