Clare-ity of Nature

  As we enter the later days of November, the transition into winter becomes more noticeable. As seen in the images below, there is less greenery, the deciduous trees (with the exception of pine trees since they don’t lose their green features) have lost all or most of their leaves, with the latter now covering the ground. Most of the larger animals that I used to see in my landscape such as squirrels and deer I have also seen considerably less of, meaning they are getting ready to or already are hibernating. Due to less growing it can be assumed there may not be growth or even a lack of nutrients in the environment. This could not be further from the truth though. While trees are going dormant and larger animals migrate or hibernate, a return of nutrients to the soil is still ongoing. This is because of the leaves on the ground. Since the leaves are already decomposing, it is only a matter of time when they will fully decompose into the soil, returning lots of nutrients to the soi...

     I went back to my landscape today, and just as I expected for the most part it looks identical to when I visited a few days ago. Something that has become a repetitive occurrence this month that I haven’t mentioned until now is the presence of birds in the area. When I first started to come to my landscape it was usually quiet other than some animals running around in the grass, but now the silence is filled with the chirping of birds. The influx of birds I’ve noticed is most likely due to them flying south to the tropics to stay in warm weather where they will continue to thrive. Due to the favorable conditions, amount of trees, and resources within my landscape this is a prime area where birds can find shelter, food, and water while on their journey south. This means many birds and various species of birds will reside in my landscape area for a little while before taking to the skies and continuing their migration. In the photos above, some show a dirt path that le...

  As we transition from summer into winter, we enter the season where there is little to no growth. Most plants and some animals start to hibernate and the animals that fly migrate south to stay in conditions where they will continue to thrive. For the most part this is exactly what is happening in my space. There has been a noticeable decrease in activity since my visit in September- last month I saw deer, frogs, turtles, squirrels, and lots of caterpillars and butterflies, but this month there is a lack of most of those species. I saw a few squirrels and a frog but no deer, turtles, caterpillars, or butterflies. This is most likely due to the temperature dropping as we go from fall to winter. These temperatures result in many animals hibernating or migrating as the conditions outside are no longer favorable for them. This is the same for plants, as most of the trees and flowers are going into hibernation, as there is a considerable amount of leaves on the ground and decaying flow...

                    Nature is dependent on many factors, one of the most notable being the climate. A strong example of this is how the landscape and organisms react after a rainstorm. My landscape has a pond, which means it's already affected by water, but is nonetheless affected when a large amount of rain arrives. Above are some pictures I took before the rainstorm and below are pictures I took after it. As you can see in the pictures above the space I chose has a large amount of biodiversity that helps to show what kind of environment it is. For example, the Orchard Orbweaver (the spider) prefers moist, short vegetation, wooded areas, which describes the area it was seen in perfectly. Where the web was photographed is just above a short shrub a few yards from the pond. Another example from above is the frog I took a picture of. This is photographed right next to the pond, which is where I saw other frogs as well, which make...