On a beautiful November evening I took a stroll to the Salmon Hole once again. It was very exciting to try and discover what changes had occurred in this area between this visit and my last. One of the most obvious differences was the large increase in leaf cover on the ground. Another thing I noticed which was related to this was the notable bareness of the trees and other vegetation. In particular, the goldenrod along the path to the Winooski river, which had already lost its distinctive yellow color the last time I was here, was even more withered. Additionally, the buckthorn, which there is a lot of in this area, stayed mostly intact but even it was starting to lose leaves.
I chose to sit on a fallen paper birch in the area where the path splits off into two to take notes about the things I heard and saw. This is the same birch that I showed a picture of in my first post, and it still had the fungi on it and buckthorn surrounding it. During the fifteen minutes that I sat there, I heard planes flying, cars driving, water rushing, leaves rustling, wind blowing, and chickadees calling. I also saw leaves falling and trees swaying. Once I was done sitting down, I was curious to see if I could find the chickadees that I had heard. To my delight, I saw a couple of them flying and one even landed and got close enough that I took a quick video before it flew away. Besides that, though, I again didn’t see much wildlife.
Pictured above is an aerial view of my site at the Salmon Hole. I put a black dot where my sit spot was, and tried to depict the area around it as best as I could, though it turned out a bit chaotic. I know the map is unorganized but I hope it still aids in visualizing where I’ve been visiting.
Withered goldenrod along the path leading to the Winooski river
Small mushroom I found hiding in the leafy understory
Images showing the many leaves covering the ground and barren trees (while the buckthorn is still doing particularly well)
Short video I captured of what I believe is a black-capped chickadee hopping up a branch and flying away (sorry for the low quality)