Upon going to centennial brook on October 29, I was met with a very similar landscape to the week prior. One of the primary changes which I noticed was that the small fish or potentially tadpoles had returned to the water since the week prior, when they were nowhere to be seen. They must be newly hatched children from the ends of the summer. I found few other animals, but there were many trees and grasses at my site, including a Red Oak, a Red Maple, a Black Walnut Tree (thanks, Grace!), some shrubs which resembled Buckthorn, and grasses surrounding the brook and footbridge. The Red Oak is changing colors to a deep red, most likely due to the colder temperatures and lack of sunlight it is receiving. The Black Walnut, however, has remained primarily green with some hues of yellow, but it’s leaves are still on the branches. The Red maples, though further to the right of my immediate area, are also turning a beautiful red color, not yet completely fallen off. The soils have changed in that they are less muddy and more stable, most likely due to the decrease in rainfall since the last time I visited my site. My mapping deepened my sense of my place as it allowed me to notice features and factors that were not in my immediate site, such as the tree species surrounding my area of the brook and the grasses which surround the long footbridge to get to my site.
