Sunny, 55˚F

I approached my sit spot at 4:25pm. I had ensured the bird feeder was full about an hour before starting my journal. During the first fifteen minutes of tuning in, I heard many birds, although I was disappointed to see none approach the feeder. Of the birds I heard, I could identify many sparrows, a few finches, doves, and cardinals; most of these calls came from the south. I don’t think a full five seconds passed without hearing a bird call. As it always happens, as soon as I wrote that no birds had approached the feeder in those fifteen minutes, several flew in toward the feeder and landed on the ground beneath it. I counted three or four doves, a cardinal, and two robins. My dog, Ralphie, then came outside to enjoy the screened-in porch, and as soon as he spotted the birds, Ralphie sat at the screen watching them. I just had to take a photo because he’s precious! I then began hearing a single crow cawing in the south as loudly as it could. I looked towards the south to see if I could spot it but had no luck. When I looked back to my focus point, a species shift had occurred. Now, there were just doves, five doves beneath the feeder, eating what had fallen to the ground. My father had to explain the difference between a dove and pigeon to me a couple months ago when several doves were outside at our bird bath. I didn’t realize that doves and pigeons were in the same family and that not all doves are white. These doves are gray with a brownish red tone. I searched the doves that looked like the ones I saw and narrowed it down to either a mourning dove or a laughing turtle dove. I then discovered that the laughing turtle dove is not native to North America and has a long tail. The doves I saw must have been mourning doves. All of a sudden, all the birds at the feeder, on the ground, and in the tress began calling and flying southwest in one large group. Only one bird remained, a single dove, and I will discuss its significance later.

My three objects were the red maple tree, the spider web on the tree, and the uprooted tree root. For this section of the blog, I decided to create side-by-side collages of the three objects from my last journal to this one. This was greatly helpful because I found myself saying that nothing changed, but the photos show change has indeed occurred. The red maple tree has many blank spaces where it has lost leaves. The color change is certainly taking its time because the tree is still mostly green. The only change I see is a slight difference on the outer edges of the tree, the leaves that get the most sunlight, which have begun to turn reddish brown. The spider web looks like it has deteriorated further, and the dead leaf that was attached to it is no longer present. The root appears to be covered by the same amount of grass but does appear a little drier, even though we have gotten a fair amount of rain the past few days. Perhaps this dryness is due to the decrease in temperature and drier fall air overall.

During my period of auditory tuning, I found most of the noticeable noise to be associated with birds. I say ‘noticeable noise’ because I can also hear cars on the interstate in the background constantly, although I can block out that noise. The bird-related noises were either birds actually calling or just moving around in or flying into or out of a tree. Because the leaves now have a dry, crunchiness about them, every movement a bird makes inside a tree is easily audible. The crunchiness of the leaves is due to their progress in the decomposition phase prior to falling off the tree. Even with my eyes closed, I knew the noise I was hearing was birds moving in trees, I suppose from a prior experience I wasn’t aware I had. I did not hear any insects during this time, although I did hear a neighbor’s dog barking a little bit. I did find it difficult to remain focused with my eyes closed and not drift off and fall asleep. For me, it is easier to be attentive with my eyes open.

The remaining dove I had previously mentioned is the animal I chose to watch for ten minutes because at this point in following the guided questions, it was still there! After all the other birds in the trees and on the ground flew away together, this one dove remained still as a rock for at least twenty-five minutes. I originally thought that this dove has something wrong with it that led to a defect in its ability to react to stress or approaching predators. This made me think that all the other doves I saw would probably outlive this one. When all the birds flew away, there was no loud noise that occurred before that, and I saw no predator. I would love to know what caused them all to leave so quickly. After time passed, and the dove sat still, I thought about other possibilities. Maybe the bird is stunned. Maybe it is just waiting for the others to return, but that still doesn’t explain why it is sitting so still. Finally, the dove flew away when I stood up to get a better picture of it. I will include the one photo I took.

Other changes occurred since my last journaling, aside from those changes associated with my primary red maple tree. The grass has more brown patches in it, and the temperature has decreased about 20˚F. For this journal, I sat outside wearing a fuzzy pullover while using a blanket and a heating pad. Looking back, I think it’s funny that I was chilly doing my last journal in 73˚F. The tree to the red maple’s right, the sugar maple, has drastically changed, turning completely reddish orange and losing about 60% of its leaves. I also included a side-by-side photo of the sugar maple because this is by far the most noticeable change. I wonder if all sugar maples turn more rapidly that red maples. At this point, I predict that by mid-December, ironically when fall officially ends, is when the red maple will have turned completely red. I’m not sure when our last blog is due, but I surely hope that the red maple is red by then!

Ralphie birdwatching

Red Maple (last blog pic on left, new blog pic on right)

Spider Web (last blog pic on left, new blog pic on right)

Red Maple Root (last blog pic on left, new blog pic on right)

Remaining Dove (I altered the pic to make it easier to see the dove)

Sugar Maple (last blog pic on left, new blog pic on right)