Field Study #2

Saturday, September 12, 2026

Today is the day of my second field study! It truly was a lovely day to be out and make progress on this project. I definitely could have waited longer to do this, since it has really only been about a week and a half (over by half a day technically) but I'm calling it good. Despite being a short break in between field studies, I could still depict some changes at my spot (as subtle as they were)!

(edit) P.S. this entry also doesn't have a ton of photos because I didn't look hard enough when I was out :')

Field Notes

Date: 09 - 12 - 26

Time: 5:10p.m. - 5:45p.m.

Length of Day: 7:17a.m. - 7:56p.m. (12h, 39m)

Temperature: 80°F

Climate: Sunny with partial clouds, slight wind

Observations: It was a really nice day, similar to last time but different nonetheless! This time, I didn't hear the cicadas, but maybe it was just because the crickets were so loud. I also heard a couple different bird calls, but firstly- lets clear up that I am no expert on bird calls BUT... I can guess that one of them was a blue jay because I saw one flying a couple hundred feet away. On a short note, the other things I heard were more continuous than the others, but I heard the leaves rustling the tree branches (not as much as last time), and the creek trickling. Unfortunately like last time, I still have a bad sense of smell, so I couldn't smell much except the walnut trees. As odd as that sounds, when the walnuts all start falling off, they have a real specific scent, strong enough that I could pick up on it. When I walked on down initially, I couldn't note a substantial amount of change, but I did notice some new plants that weren't there last time. I saw 2 different white flowering plants (one was Queen Anne's lace), and 3 different purple flowering plants. They were all pretty small, nothing extravagant, but were nice subtle spots of color along the bank. The nicest surprise was that I saw a dragon fly, and as common as they are at our house, it stood out because it was huge! It had to be the size of my hand or bigger; the only thing was that it was flying over the other side of the creek, so not the side I'm studying- but that didn't stop me from getting a picture! Another nice aspect of this trip was that I saw a frog (finally...). I was bummed that I didn't see one last time since we usually have a lot, but I'm glad I got to this time. I was gonna pick it up and get a picture with it but my boot got stuck in the mud and it disappeared before I could get my foot out. On top of all the other critters I saw, there were lots of bugs; though, I really can't say that I'm surprised. My favorite bug that I saw were the water skeeters on the creek surface because I like watching them go against the current. The last thing I saw that I enjoyed were the clouds in the sky, specifically cirrus clouds. This type of cloud can be identified as high up, and wispy looking, and usually indicate that pleasant and fair weather is to come (an approaching warm front). I felt some plants, the bark on some of the ironwood trees lining the bank, the sun on my back, and wind brushing on my arms. It truly was a nice day to be out!

Changes Since Last Visit: Since it was only a couple days over a week since my last field study, there wasn't a ton of change, but there was undeniably some! Something I noticed was that it was actually quieter than last time, with the noticeable absence of the cicadas. There were more bird calls, some new, some the same. Since I had been there, all those flowering plants showed up and replaced some of the greenery that was there prior to me being here. Speaking of the greenery, there was less of it, and some of it on the left bank had begun to adopt a brownish-redder color. There were less bugs as well, which I can surely appreciate.