While going back and spending time in my spot and observing all the different changes that have happened in what seems like so fast, I can see that the area looks a lot different from when I first arrived on campus. The trees have all changed their colors and grow pretty vibrant in the crisp fall air. As I sat on the water fountains edge in the middle of the University Green, I observed the humans that interact with this area on the daily basis, and how heavily human this area is. Rarely can you spot wildlife in this environment, but I got lucky and saw a few squirrels roaming around. I closed my eyes and was surrounded by the noise of Main St, the gulls swarming overhead and people continuously walking by. I was overwhelmed with the smell the grass, which I think had just been freshly cut.
The most obvious changes that I could see was the way that the trees dropped most, or all of their leaves. Most of the maple trees were bare with some stagger of red still lingering, the crabapple trees seemed to look the same, still holding berries and small leaves. I saw that the conifers had the same coverage as before not really dropping any needles, the color only looked slightly different from the last time I was there observing. I’m excited to see how my area will look for the next part of my phenology project!