Some of the birds that I was able to observe today include:

• Blue Jay
• Downy Woodpecker
• Carolina Wren
• Tufted Titmouse
• Red-breasted Nuthatch
• American Goldfinch
• Black-capped Chickadee

Most of these were identified by their calls and I managed to get the call of the Carolina Wren as an audio recording. You can listen to it below.

I also observed a bunch of areas in the ground that looked like circles in the fallen needles. I am taking a guess to say that these are spots where squirrels have buried seeds for the winter because of the pinecones next to the spot, but I am not entirely sure.

The first thing I noticed was that my area does not have as many leaves on the ground as seen in other parts of the woods. This is because my spot consists mostly of Northern White Pine trees. There were some trees, the maples, near the stream that were turning yellow and losing leaves.

For the most part, all of the white pines seemed the same as they did on my last visit. There isn’t too much to observe with them since they keep their needles year-round. I did notice that some of the ferns have started to die though.

The stream was flowing very steadily and was very nice to listen to while sitting there.

While sitting at my spot, I did a grounding technique to help me notice more things going on in the area. It is called the 54321 technique (or at least that’s what I call it). You name five things you can see, four things you can hear, three you can feel, two you can smell, and one you can taste. (I decided to omit the tasting part)

See

• Decaying logs
• Many broken up pinecones-likely from squirrels trying to find seeds for the winter
• Residue of snow and ice on top of some logs- leftover from yesterdays snowfall
• Ground covered in fallen pine needles and more falling to the ground
• A pattern I noticed where small diameter trees have an affinity for growing next to large diameter trees

Hear

• The stream bubbling
• Bird calls
• Wind whistling through the tops of the trees
• Squirrels and chipmunks scurrying to find food for the winter

Feel

• The cold air (not as cold as in open spaces where there is much more direct wind)
• The log I was sitting on at the center of my space. It’s very sturdy
• The stream water is freezing cold, would be refreshing if the air wasn’t freezing

Smell

• The white pine trees gave off a nice pine smell
• The fresh, cold, crisp air

The next three photos show the pattern I observed.

Below is a birds-eye view drawing I completed white sitting at my phenology site. The key is included in the picture.