The creek was cold, which I can’t say I appreciated. It seems as if it’s that time of year where the water realizes it’s a bit behind on the current trends regarding temperature. and rushes to catch up. I was hoping it would retain its heat for longer, though – I’m quite worried about the very real possibility of hypothermia in my near future. Anyway, I set out early afternoon, around 2:00 thereabouts, because – if I’m being perfectly candid, here – I didn’t look over the questions before I left, so I arrived at my usual time, only to find that I wasn’t supposed to arrive at my usual time at all, and switch things up a bit. However, I think that it’s for the best, as I’m planning on doing my next sitspot at night and having a day/night contrast would be fantastic. So it all worked out, really.

Late October appears to be the time where most of the animals decide to throw in the towel, because animals were rather scarce this time around. It makes sense, because I really didn’t want to be out there in that weather either. It was, as I said earlier, cold. The sky was slightly overcast, allowing only a few small slivers of blue to peek past. The crickets and birds were quieter, the fish were less common, and I spotted no insects during my journey. However, I did spot a blue jay just as it was leaving one of the bird houses on campus, which was fun. It had left it’s shelter to find food, I believe, as it was pecking at the ground.

Another item of interest I spotted was either the exoskeleton or corpse of a crayfish. I found it somewhat hard to tell. It had its front two legs, eye stalks, and one antenna intact; the rest was lost to the creek. (See picture below).

Crayfish

The lichen that I’ve been following has not changed a bit in the past few months I’ve been watching it. The blue lobelia has wilted completely, even the stem. I’m pretty sure that the water levels of the creek were lower this time around as well.

Water levels

Lichen