Observations from Visit #4

Today, October 30, 2011 was an amazing day to make another visit to my field. While the weather was a bit cloudy and windy, the temperature was 54 degrees, and the length of day was 10 hours 24 minutes. To say the least, the weather was much cooler than it was the last time I made a visit to my field. God gave us a real gift with the summer-like temperatures at the beginning of the month, but now, it feels much more like fall. I just wonder how much longer the fall temperatures will last, though. This past week, one local television station released its winter forecast, and it sounds like the snow could start as early as mid-November this year. I hope there will at least be some snow on the ground for when I make a November visit!

One thing that I have continually paid attention to this season at my field is the change in the leaves on the trees. Many more leaves are now off the trees, and the ones on the ground have already started to fade and crinkle. It's kind of bittersweet  to see the colorful leaves fall and then have to decay. In terms of patterns, I've learned that the trees on the edge of a forest are the ones that tend to change color first. This is very true for my field as well. Many of the leaves still on the trees are either yellow or orange right now. Personally, I really like the yellow ones. I wish I had known this before, and I might still be able to find this out, but I'm wondering if some trees at my field change from yellow to orange leaves before falling. It's hard to know for sure because they started changing fairly late in the season. I will be sure to make a note of this next time I go. Some leaves are still green, which amazes me. They will probably change color soon just like the rest of them.

The water flow in the creek is still very steady; the noise is music to my ears. The squirrels were extremely busy; I saw at least four of them. A few people were at my field to go hiking, and I even took advantage of exploring some of the trails after I made my observations today. The dunes in this area are spectacular, especially right up against the lake.

Here is another photo from my field. Notice the change in color:

Observations from Visit #3

I cannot begin to put into words how good it felt to return to my field on Sunday afternoon, October 9th. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous for the past two weeks. In fact, the temperature on Sunday around 5:30 pm, when I made my visit, was 77º, and the length of day was 11 hours 22 minutes. I cannot remember an October that has been nearly as nice as this. During this visit, sitting in my usual spot, I heard many birds chirping close by. In a very big way, the visit as a whole seemed to be all about the birds. There was not a second when I was there when I didn't hear any birds. There also seemed to be more  traffic on the road; the noises from the cars was much more noticeable than what I had originally remembered. It was also amazing to finally see the leaves beginning to change color. Right now, there are many beautiful shades of yellow and orange on the leaves that are still clinging to the trees. A lot of the leaves have fallen off the trees already, too, creating a carpet-like illusion on the ground. Another thing that really struck me while I was sitting there was in how very persistent the crickets seem to be this year. I can't remember a time this late in the season when they were still chirping in such full force. Maybe God wants to give all of us a taste of some extra summer weather that we couldn't quite appreciate in the same way during July and August when it was so warm. I will be very sad when this warm weather goes away for the season, but it will also be nice to experience some true fall temperatures.