Study #3

 October 8th, 6:00pm

Temperature: 62˚ F

Day Length: 11hrs 23m

Cooler than last visit with a light breeze

This was 100% the most interesting visit yet at this spot. As I came in on the trail I saw a small toad, and then later on another:

As I took the water level photo (using the car part for reference):

I saw a reflection on the water and looked up to see a bald eagle zooming over head. Unfortunately, it was gone before I could catch a photo, but it was beautiful. I walked along the trail portion of my area and I got some cool photos:

Cool moss:

My dad and I then went squirrel hunting further down the trail, and we saw two of them: grey, and fox.

Unfortunately they were both about 50' up in a tree pretty far into the woods, so I couldn't do my study. I did do some research however and found that the two species intermix regularly, which was something I was unsure about.

After we accepted defeat, we walked back and I got this photo along the river:

After making the 7 minute walk back to the car, we were unloading our guns and we heard coyotes from across the river. It was the perfect evening with a blend out birds mammals, amphibians and nature.

Study #2

September 27th, 2:45pm

Temperature: 71˚

Day Length: 11hrs 54m

Wind: 5mph

It has been a little under 3 weeks since my last visit. One very interesting change I noticed today is that the water has risen by at least a couple of inches as can be seen in the following images.

Again, the turtles were sunbathing on the log. This time however, I got a really funny photo of a little turtle on top of a larger one.

I also saw a heron flying over the river. Most likely this is because there were a ton of fish jumping out of the water.

Nature Sketch

 

Study Location Video

Video

Original Research Paper Link

The link to the study paper is here: Allegan State game area study

Study #1

 September 7th, 2:00pm

79˚, 2:00pm

Day length: 12hrs 53m

Well, I guess the first study was a success. I set aside about a one and a half hour time block to just sit in the study area. At first I didn't see much although, as always, the woods was alive with sound. I heard a splash in the water when I got there and I thought it was a fish at first but it turned out to be a group of turtles that used to be sunbathing. I left them and went back to my chair but I kept the log they were on in the back of my head. I snuck over maybe 20 minutes later and they were back, however, they didn't jump off.

Obviously, I would have gotten a better picture had it not been for the steep, loose hill in between me and the river.

I had heard what I thought were squirrels all throughout this time, but in the last ten minutes, I heard a squirrel bark. I looked for about a minute and then I finally heard a sound overhead. It wasn't a squirrel, but it was a woodpecker which was really cool. I was going to snap a photo, but my phone was dead. As I looked down in slight disappointment, I noticed movement on a tree trunk across the trail. It was an eastern gray squirrel. I then started my test. I kept my eyes fixed on the squirrel as I walked directly toward it at a steady, non-threatening pace. At 20ft away it scurried up the tree, however I couldn't see it afterwards as I was focused on measuring the distance to the tree. 

So, next time, I will definitely make sure my phone has more charge and I would make sure I had someone else to track where it goes. Before I go out again,  will certainly plan on also making a spreadsheet to track my findings with the squirrels and I will also have a video of the area prepared to help you better understand where I'm collecting my data.

Here is a sound map drawing of the area. The red spot is the location where I was sitting, and I have several of the other creatures labeled where I saw them, plus some other noises. I also encountered one bass boat with a full sized ladder (a little weird), and two kayaks, but I don't have those listed directly, I just say "Man-made water noises".

Finally, for this study, I'm taking one photo from the same location each visit to see how the area changes. Here is my first image: 

Thank you for reading this first post!

Study Area

 This is the 30mx30m area in Allegan State game area that I will be studying in this blog. It sits along the edge of the Kalamazoo river.