Today I went back to my phenology spot around 5:30PM. It was definitely chillier today than it was during my last visit, but thankfully my spot was sheltered from the breeze that was blowing across campus. I noticed a lot of changes, some very obvious and other smaller ones, had occurred since I was last there. The water level of the river was definitely higher, which makes sense because we’ve had a very rainy week and weekend. (This was also apparent in the puddles that had formed close to the embankment where the Hemlock stand begins. I noted that the gushing of the water was much more audible and that the river had developed some small rapid areas. The most aggressive rapid was located to the left of where I stood at the point where the water hit a hard right against the bank before continuing downstream. Another rapid had popped up where a log had fallen and it appeared a small damn might have been made. Despite the increase in water volume, it seemed as though the turbidity of the water had decreased. The log that normally serves as my bridge from the point to the grassy area on the other side of the water was almost unpassable (but we made it work). All of the sugar maples at my site had turned from a deep green to a really pretty bright orange/yellow/green. The red maples on the grassy side of the river had lost almost all of their leaves and even more of the leaves of the Red Osier Dogwood had turned a dark brown/red and began to shrivel further. The Joe-Pye Weeds that make up the grassy area seem to be becoming browner and more shriveled as well. I heard crows calling overhead as well, but other than the sound of the occasional bird and the water it was very quiet. I was there observing right around golden hour, which made for some really beautiful scenery. I also discovered a cool new plant in the grassy area that I hadn’t seen before! I was able to identify it as a Winged Euonymus, and I will definitely be keeping an eye on it. It was a nice outing today, and I’m looking forward to getting back out there sometime before next week.
