During my last visit to Salmon Hole as an assignment, I went on a dark, misty day. The clouds stretched over the sky as far as you can see, blocking any trace of sunlight from reaching the greater area of Burlington, Vermont.
As I first set foot on my site, the first thing I noticed was the leaves. During my last trip, all the leaves had freshly fallen off the trees and covered up the ground almost entirely. During this trip, the leaves were diminished, crumbled, and blackened from the original light brown and maroon-ish colors and had scattered in different directions no longer entirely covering the floor of the site.
There were still some berries attached to the Oriental Bittersweets and the Riverbank Grapes but the berries on the Bittersweets had faded from a bright red to a mellow beige tone.
Animal Activity: The amount of animal activity wasn’t very noticeable from the beginning of this semester but the amount of birds squawking and chirping was a lot less than my last visit. This could be because of the volume of the river flooding out any other sound or because birds have already began migrating.
There haven’t been any new signs of animal tracks or tracings but signs of beavers in this area are still prominent from the chewed up trees in the area.
What did I enjoy the most: Over the source of this semester, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at this site in almost every category. The scent of the trees, the sound of the river, and the overall atmosphere of the environment makes it so much fun to explore and observe this ecosystem, but I’d say my favorite part about this project was the refreshing experience of leaving campus and getting out of my normal routine. It was really nice to switch up my schedule and do something that I wouldn’t normally day and get out of the routine of wake up, classes, dorm, sleep.