Field Study #4

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 only grow to be a maximum of 10 inches. They are instead defined as a clubmoss, which is closely related to a fern. They are often mis-identified as a "mini" or sapling of a pine tree because of there similar appearance. 
(Which is what I did!)

Found interesting orange moss/mold on a fallen tree.

Noticing a lot more fallen leaves, and a big change in color of the leaves; they are now more orange, yellow and red. Also now have increased visibility when looking through the trees due to the falling of their leaves.