Today 10/14/2019, it was a brisk 63 degrees, but absolutely not a cloud in sight. The sky was a uniform blue that is not seen very often during the fall, especially when the morning began as foggy as it did. I began my sit spot at 10:34 am, and took my seat in the relatively same spot on my blue blanket. I was very grateful I brought it as the dew had not been dried from the grass. Because the seasons are changing, the sun no longer hits most of the side of the building where I sit. The first thing I noticed, and couldn’t stop thinking about, was the whir of chainsaws in the background cutting down the dying ash trees.

There was a couple changes in the three things I decided to follow. For starters, the Pokeberry bush was no longer as full as my last observation time. It looked as if a giant came and sat down in the middle of it, with branches falling in all directions and very thin in the middle. Additionally, the fallen tree was much more visible. All but the thorn bushes have thinned in front of it, revealing more than just the top of the dead tree. For my last thing, the Fountain Grass, there wasn’t very much change. It may have been because they were wet, but they seemed droopier than last time. Other than that, they remained fairly unchanged.

 

Among the noise of the machinery was still plenty of bird calls. It wouldn’t be one of my sit spots if I didn’t talk about the birds. One of the most interesting things I saw was three Northern Cardinals. There was two males and one female. One of the males was far more brilliantly red than the other one. So much so that I thought there was two females at first. This raised a couple questions in my mind. Were they competing for territory/ the female? That reminds me of the sexual selection we just discussed in class.. Or are they related and were all hatched in this area, but haven’t left yet? The males would take turns hoping from the Pokeberry bush to the tree on my right, while the female stayed at a distance. All the while, all three of them exclaimed their high pitched “Pick Pick Pick” calls.

 

While I was sitting in the dewy grass, my mind was very much on water. I noticed fairly quickly that the grass wasn’t half as dry as it had been during my last observation time. It had rained off and on during the last week a couple of times and the plants reflected that. Water is very important in the survival of these plants for photosynthesis.  I did notice though, that the once full tree to my right is now dried up and slightly yellowing.

Another reoccurring event I witnessed was blue jays with various things (I assume seeds) flying back and forth. A lot of the plants and animals are officially prepping for the quickly approaching winter, and I only anticipate these hints to become more obvious and often. Overall, I found this sit spot more challenging than the last because of the busy weekend I had and the break that is upcoming. It was hard to quiet my mind of those things. The hour still seemed to pass fairly quickly, regardless of the sporadic train of thought I had. It is only going to get colder and less green from here.