Today, I managed to find some time to visit my phenology spot before it got dark. While I was not there for long, I did take some time to notice any changes. The changes that I observed in my phenology spot were all to be expected. The deciduous trees that have their roots in my spot are almost entirely bare of leaves, with the exception of a few silver maple leaves holding on just a little longer. As a result, there is much more leaf litter on the ground, and the previously abundant herbaceous ground cover is now much more sparse. The area was also much quieter, as there are far fewer birds, but I did see plenty of squirrels hurriedly scuttling around preparing for winter. Despite the heavy winds, none of the trees seemed to have undergone any drastic changes, although I cannot say the same for some other trees that I passed during my walk through the Intervale. I also took the time to draw a bird’s-eye view map of my phenology spot, which can be found on the About My Spot page of this blog.
After taking a bit to familiarize myself with any changes at my phenology spot, I opted to take some time to relax and enjoy nature. I climbed partially up one of the silver maples (it provides a wonderful spot to sit or lay down), and simply stayed there for a while, enjoying the sounds of nature and holding on tight every time a powerful gust of wind attempted to knock me off of my perch. During this time, I was surprised to see two birds flying near each other! At first, I was unsure of what they were doing, as they either seemed to be chasing or playing with each other. But, I identified the birds as a red-tailed hawk and a raven, so, given this information, it seems fairly safe to assume that the raven was attempting to chase the hawk out of its territory.