On this particular cloudy Wednesday afternoon, the squirrels were alive along the Burlington Bike Path. Not only did I observe numerous squirrels around the Winooski Bridge, but also all along the bike path. With the combination of all of the fallen acorns and colder weather, the squirrels here seem to be hastily preparing for winter. In addition to fallen acorns, the ground leading up to the bridge is littered with leaves of all kinds. Most of the ground leaves have already turned brown, but brief spots of bright yellow catch your eye every once in a while. Along the path, most trees are bare, their leaves having made a new home among the ants and other insects on the ground, but several young Northern Red Oaks still sport their colorful red leaves, showing that there is still some time left before the winter truly arrives. And, if you look hard enough along the edge of the path, just below the beautiful red leaves, you will see a plant which makes you look twice – horsetail grass. At first glance, these tiny grasses look just like young bamboo shoots, however, they are actually quite common around watery areas. On the bridge itself, there are no squirrels running about. If you look closely at the metal bars, you will see small spider webs covering almost every inch. Today, a jumping spider watched over the web while an unsuspecting ladybird beetle slowly made its way towards it (thankfully it flew away just before getting stuck). Without higher traffic across the bridge, and thus less people shaking and disturbing the peace along the metal bars, spiders are able to create more stable webs (and just in time for halloween might I add).
Since last week, the trees surrounding the base of the bridge have lost most, if not all, of their leaves. There are also less bird species around the bridge than was there just last week. While I heard a few birds during my ride to the bridge, the only ones I saw at my site were two Black Crows perched in a tree. Looking out over the bridge towards Lake Champlain, you can see that the water levels are lower than last week. The water clarity has increased since last week, especially closer to shore. Normally there is some soil debris in the water from the river delta bank, but since the soil is getting harder as the weather becomes colder, there is less breaking off into the water.
