It seems my muse for fieldnote writing has departed. I haven't encountered her for a while, and I've no idea whether or not she'll return. For now though, I thought it might be best to take an alternate approach, so that I don't miss out on opportunities to record and share observations in my ongoing phenological studies. So at the full moon of Awakaasiiki'somm, I got started, using a video-recorder to capture my experiences at Sspopiikimi. We'll see how this new approach goes. It might turn out to be better than writing in the long run.
During my first visit, following our first cold storm, which arrived at the full moon, there were still quite a few of the late asters - tufted white prairie aster, hairy golden aster, and showy aster being the most prominent three. The flicker families were still here at that time too...
Given the cold shot we'd had, I noticed the turtles had already gone under at the pond. I knew the rattlesnakes would be going back to their hibernacula as well. One of the developments that occurred in my life this summer was that I inherited the lead position for coordinating and carrying-out rattlesnake conservation and mitigation in the city of Lethbridge. In the course of that work, I'd taken in an injured rattlesnake, named Rupert, who had been hit by a mountain bike, and had required surgery. Though healed from the operation, there was still signs that Rupert was suffering some internal injuries. All the same, I thought it best he go back to his hibernaculum for winter...
Finally, I made another visit to Sspopiikimi after about a week of chill. This time, I found almost all the asters, with exception of a few hairy golden holdouts, gone. The flickers too had departed. But there were still lingering dragonflies, grasshoppers, and drone flies...
