Early November – Events Map and Observations

The main change in my site since I last visited were with the vegetation. The green ashes lost their remaining leaves, with only a few dried leaves hanging on to the branches. The buckthorn shrubs had also lost the majority of their leaves as well. Overall, there was a shift from more green vegetation to brown and yellow vegetation as the long grasses and weeds surrounding the site died off and the majority of other plants lost their leaves, resulting in bare branches. The bulrushes and other reed plants are still in the process of seed dispersal, and nearly every bulrush had small white tufts of seeds slowly coming out. The algae blooms on the lake were gone, potentially due to colder waters making it harder for the algae to live.

Snow geese were still present at the site. There were two relatively large flocks swimming in the marsh, around 20 total. The geese were relatively calm, honking occasionally but mostly inactive. No other birds were sighted. Similarly, no birds nests were found—even in the snag—which surprised me.

I found more evidence of human life at my site today than in the past. There were multiple pieces of styrofoam, a crushed can, a few large and partially buried plastic bags, and a small plastic shovel under the green ash tree. Similarly, I found that half of the barbed wire fence to the left of the green ash tree was collapsed with weeds and grasses growing over it. The trampled paths of grass leading down to my site were also more distinct, potentially implying that more people have been visiting it.