As the seasons have switched over from the long and warm days of summer to the brisk and beautiful fall my place at Centennial Brook is adapting to the season changes. To me, my place is defined not only by the short walk through the woods and across the footbridges but by the variety of ecosystems surrounding its watershed. The forest ecosystem is dominant around the brook since it flows directly through the woods, but on the other side of the water (farthest away from the path) is a wetland with completely different vegetation and organisms. The forest is made up of trees like the sugar maple, red maple, white pine, boxelder, green ash, paper birch, and many other species commonly found in Vermont. The plants that dominate the wetland are cattails and other long and wispy grasses. I thoroughly enjoy getting to witness different changes to different plants that I wouldn’t be able to see if this was just a forest.

One distinct detail of the seasonal changes is the trees shedding their newly colorful leaves. On September 30 when I visited the woods only a few trees towards the trailhead and edges of the trail had changed to a bright red color. After visiting again on October 10 many of the leaves deeper in the forest had changed to a bright yellow color. During my third visit on October 22, almost all of the trees had dropped at least half of their leaves. The changes in the length of daylight and changes in temperature due to the cooling fall weather are making the trees stop their food-making processes to conserve water and energy for the upcoming winter seasons.

Another observation I have made over visiting my site is the abundance of organisms both human and animal. During the warm days of summer, I remember seeing many families walking dogs with their children and many college students going on a small adventures with groups of friends, but now that fall is upon us there seems to be less family activity on the trail during the week but still a steady flow of college students exploring. The animals have also started their fall tendencies of gathering an abundance of food. During my October 22 visit, many birds were heard in my thirty-five-minute visit. At first, I could only hear them as I sat by the brook noticing the absence of mosquitos and fewer water bugs (only one spotted), but soon I was able to see a large group of birds, ten or so, fly into a nearby berry bush to feed. These birds were small and gray with a white belly and head and an additional black spot on the top of their heads. I was also able to notice two chipmunks and a single squirrel in the trees nearby scrambling around the trunks and branches. Five minutes later I spotted a female cardinal feeding on some blue berries who was extremely plump as a male watched from the distance. Soon a chipmunk came to the feeding frenzy and starting eating large red berries. As I was getting ready to leave I quickly saw a flash a blue from a bluejay in the tree directly across the footbridge. This shows all the animals are eating the summer fruits while they are available. I cannot wait to see how else Centennial Brook changes. Attached below are my field notes and sketches from my visits.