Ashley's Field Study Blog

  1st Visit - September 7 2nd Visit - September 28 3rd Visit - October 11  4th Visit - November 2 5th Visit - November 16

Photo from Same Location Each Visit Photo from Same Location Each Visit with Me in It Date - November 16, 2025 Time - 4:27 p.m. Temperature - 41°F Weather - Partially sunny and cloudy, 14mph wind WNW Length of day - 9 hours 42 minutes Organisms observed - Some birds and squirrels, plants, trees, bushes etc Sounds heard - wind, especially rustling the leaves, a plane overhead, animals rustling in leaves, leaves falling Questions - I wonder how the lack of snow so far this year affects the ecosystems. I wonder if any trees will never completely lose all of their leaves. I wonder when the first snow will be. Changes noticed since last visit - I noticed a lot less animals this time, including few birds, squirrels or chipmunks. I noticed almost no leaves left on the trees and the few that were left had completely changed color.  Lots more fallen leaves! Very few leaves left and all remaining leaves are very light in color. Visibility through trees has increased dramatically due to falle...

Photo from Same Location Each Visit  Date - November 2, 2025 Time - 4:34 p.m. Temperature - 50°F Weather - Mostly cloudy, 12mph wind NE Length of day - 10 hours 15 minutes Organisms observed - Lots of birds, some bugs, lots of trees, brush, plants etc Sounds heard - wind, especially rustling the leaves, lots of birds calling, a neighbor mowing their lawn Questions - I wonder when our first snow will be this year? I wonder what affected the decrease in chipmunk and squirrels? I wonder how having our first hard freeze of the year will affect my field. Changes noticed since last visit - I noticed no chipmunk or squirrels today which I usually find lots of. There were lots more leaves fallen, and a huge changes in the color of leaves, as they became more yellow, red and orange.  Sapling is now about 9.5 inches tall! This is a clubmoss, it is likely a Dendrolycopodium obscurum, also known as a ground pine or princess pine. These are actually not trees and instead using on...

  3rd Field Study Visit October 11, 2025   Photo from Same Location Each Visit Date - October 11, 2025 Time - 4:07 p.m. Temperature - 59°F Weather - Mostly cloudy, partially sunny, 6 mph wind NW Length of day - 11 hours 15 minutes Organisms observed - Lots chipmunks, some squirrels and birds, a few bugs, Sounds heard - Squirrels and chipmunks rustling, leaves falling, bugs ringing, wind + leaves rustling Questions - I wonder when it will snow this year and how that will affect the organisms I see. I wonder when the leaves will change colors and why they haven't yet when in prior years they usually would have by now. Changes noticed since last visit - I noticed a lot less bugs from last time and more chipmunks digging around on fallen trees and leaves. I also noticed a lot of fallen leaves, but the trees still pretty full of leaves. Sapling is now about 6 1/2 inches tall. Noticed a hole in the tree. I wonder if any animals/insects live in here. This moss had some interesti...

2nd Field Study Visit September 28, 2025   This shows a sketch of a fallen tree in my 30x30. This shows my sound map of my 30x30. Photo from Same Location Each Visit Date - September 28, 2025 Time - 6:18 p.m. Temperature - 72°F Weather - Sunny, 6 mph wind NW Length of day - 11 hours 51 minutes Organisms observed - Lots of squirrels, some chipmunks and birds. Lots of bug Sounds heard - Squirrels and chipmunks rustling, leaves/branches falling, birds calling, bugs "ringing", neighbor mowing their lawn.  Questions - I wonder how the leaves changing will be affected by having a longer season of warm weather? I wonder how the certain areas are affected in the woods when the leaves fall? Specifically due to them getting more direct sunlight? Changes noticed since last visit - I noticed that there were a lot of new leaves that had fallen. There were also many trees that started to change colors. I also noticed the bugs being a lot louder today.  I found some squirrels climbing o...

1st Field Study Visit September 7, 2025 This map shows my 30x30 that I will be using for my field study, and the important features in it.  This video shows my 30x30 including important parts of the land. EDD Document Photo from Same Location Each Visit Date - September 7, 2025 Time - 6:34 p.m. Temperature - 62°F Weather - Sunny, 11 mph wind NW Length of day - 12 hours 51 minutes Organisms observed - Some squirrels and chipmunks, lots of birds and bugs Sounds heard - Birds chirping, squirrels in the woods, bugs buzzing around, leaves rustling around with wind Questions - I wonder if the leaves will change sooner this year due to the cooler temperatures earlier? I wonder if I will notice a significant change in the number of birds found due to them migrating? I found birds high up in trees. I think he scared away most of the squirrels and chipmunks for the day. Hard to see in picture, but found lots of bugs flying around especially in sunny areas. (Red circle shows one of the bugs) ...