October was the perfect month to sit outside and just observe – not too hot, not too cold. It was a good couple of weeks to see the weather induced changes of the nature spot I chose for the month, which was the Mary Moore Searight Metro Park. I went to the spot each Saturday of the month at around 12 p.m. I decided to go at the same time to make comparing easier and more accurate.
We haven’t had much rain over the duration of the month, so the first thing I noticed about the spot was that the creek (which was flowing steadily at the end of September) was no longer flowing, with only remnants of water here and there. There was, however, enough water in some areas to contain aquatic life. This particular day was shortly after we watched the film about the loss of amphibians, and so I was particularly interested in seeing if there were any frogs / tadpoles in the water. To my delight, there was one area of water with the sunlight shining on it that was full of tadpoles and other small fish. I saw one small frog jump into the water from a distance, but didn’t see any more than that.
As the tadpoles and fish were gleefully swimming around, I couldn’t help but wonder what kinds of chemicals were in that little bit of creek water, and if they were being slowly affected as I watched. I hoped it would rain soon, because without the creek water, how would these little creatures continue to survive?
As I went back to the spot each week in October, the creek luckily remained, as we had a few nights with brief rainfall. But unfortunately we didn’t get enough to get the creek flowing the way it was when we got some heavy rain in September. I’m looking forward to seeing how this spot changes in the colder months!
One of my favorite quotes from The Sand Country Almanac, which I believe pertains not only to nature, but also life in general: “Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.”
**(sorry about the pictures not being rotated right side up. For some reason it wouldn’t let me rotate them!)
