As soon as I arrived at the airport in DC last Friday I was chastised for bringing the cold weather with me. The weather just before I arrived had been spectacular. Hyacinths, daffodils, phlox and forsythia flowers were all in bloom and the cherry blossoms were just budding, expected to peak the week after break.

My parents caught me up on the odd phenological trends I had missed in the city. After a winter of nearly no snow, spring seemed to come a bit sooner than usual. With record high temperatures throughout February, many flowers bloomed too early and were killed shortly thereafter by unexpected cold spells. For instance, the pink flowering magnolia trees that can be found everywhere in the city bloomed for exactly one day before turning brown with an overnight shift in the weather. The city’s biggest spring attraction, the Japanese cherry blossom trees were beginning to bloom much sooner than they should. Their peak week, an event that historically happens the first week of April, would be starting once again much earlier this year. On Friday, the Washington Post reported that for the first time in the 102 years of cherry blossom trees in DC, half of them will not be blooming this year because of the sudden cold weather earlier in the week (Stein).

Each year, the weather patterns in this city seem to behave less and less ordinary. A city that depends so much on seasonal tourism is extremely hurt by the extreme fluctuation in weather events we observe year to year as a result of climate change. It is amazing that so many lawmakers in DC continue to push policies that deny the human caused existence of climate change when the impacts can be seen right outside their office windows.

But enough about politics, the purpose of the post is to revisit my home forests of Rock Creek Park.

On Tuesday afternoon, my mom, Sable and I took a hike on the same trails we had explored over Thanksgiving break and countless times before that. I realized on this hike that my favorite thing about Rock Creek Park is its accessibility. When I was growing up my mom would always bribe my brother and I to go on hikes. Each hike had an end destination. We would hike through the woods to Cleveland Park where we would be rewarded with pizza and frozen yogurt or through the woods to the National Zoo where we would spend a few hours with the animals before hiking home. I walked through the park to get to school, church, the library, my brother’s baseball games and the grocery store. The forest was our highway. On this particular trip, we hiked from our house to the Adam’s Morgan neighborhood so I could get a haircut and make some phenological observations along the way.

It had snowed all morning so the forest was an interesting compilation of spring and winter. Several inches of quickly melting slushy snow littered the ground making walking tricky and animal tracking nearly impossible.

After spending several days learning about Biofinder a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but wonder about the habitat conditions of a forested landscape within a big city. People certainly love the park, using it for all sorts of recreation while also providing a slower rural atmosphere in the midst of such a big place. Last fall in my post about Rock Creek Park, I noted its maturity, made up of many more older growth trees than the forests I’ve encountered in Vermont. Tree age however, is only one indicator of a healthy forest. Modern fragmentation is arguably the most impactful current threat to the natural communities of Rock Creek Park. Sandwiched between neighborhood row houses and the busy parkway, the nearby city development redefines notions of preservation.

Rock Creek Park is also home to many more ornamental nonnative species than what I have observed growing on Lone Rock Point. These species were easy to spot as they were more green than their deciduous surroundings. English ivy, holly and magnolia species, and daffodils planted at a park entrance were among the most notable outsiders.

The presence of people in the park did not end with fragmentation and ornamental species. In fact, one of the most obvious signs that I was in a forest within a city was graffiti. Many of the American beech trees have names carved in them and other trees were decorated with spray paint.

I was alerted to the presence of birds in the park not by the steady chirping or woodpecker tapping that I typically hear on Lone Rock Point but by a sign. Evidentially spring  in DC means it is the season for wood thrush nesting, DC’s official bird. This piece of information was news to me. I’ve lived in DC my entire life yet I’ve never encountered a wood thrush.

The cold snowy day was perhaps not the best time for bird watching and I was shocked to see nearly no signs of bird life on my hike. Several days later, I went on a morning walk with my dog and I was amazed at the dominating presence of bird songs. If I closed my eyes I felt as though I had transported myself to a forest rather than my busy neighborhood streets. The sun was out, the temperature was in the upper 40s and for the first time all break, it actually felt like spring. European starlings, warblers, crows, robins, sparrows, blue jays, chickadees and pigeons each contributed to a very spring-like atmosphere.

Hydrology in the park is similar to that of Lone Rock Point this time of year. The only difference is that the hills in the park create many more streams than what is found on the point. The water in Rock Creek Park is also very well managed by people. In one spot a plastic runoff barrier was preventing water from flowing down into the parkway creating a small manmade, potential vernal pool.

I was happy for the chance to once again spend some time in Rock Creek Park. It is hard to believe that the next time I am here the forest will be a much different place as it begins to embrace the long hot summers of DC.

(A map of the park as well as information surrounding the natural history and woody plant species I’ve observed is provided in more detail within my Thanksgiving Break post.)

(Original Photographs Copyright Colby Bosley-Smith, 2017)

When I learned that we had to do a phenology post before spring break, I was not happy. With midterms on the horizon and a plethora of projects due, I feared I would never be able to find the time in my week to visit my place. Little did I know, visiting my place would be the best way to relieve my stress.

I was sure that my February visit would be the last time I would travel down to Lone Rock in cold wintery weather. Only one weekend earlier I was able to do homework outside in 60 degree weather but this weekend winter was back. Once again I was bundling up for a chilly adventure.

Despite the cold, the people of Burlington were out and about, enjoying the beautiful sunny day. For the first time, I was able to get to my place via the newly renovated bike bath and I fully enjoyed the lake views.

Moreover, the ice surrounding the lake was gorgeous and a facinating phenological phenomena. The ice stretched the entire shoreline, bordering the land with a thin strip of white. At the edge of North Beach the frozen ice was cracked in patches by waves hitting the shore and the ice was cut in beautiful shards like broken glass.  

Inlets where the water was flowing slower trapped the ice. When I entered the point at North Beach, small floes of ice were trapped in one such inlet. A lone duck was fishing around the ice. I sat and watched for a while and was amazed at how oblivious the duck was to my presence.

A sign several feet away from the shoreline indicating the end of the North Beach property was a good indicator that lake levels were abnormally high. Perhaps the snowmelt had was a contributing factor or maybe it was just abnormal tides.

The forest had been transformed since the last time I had visited. Now completely uncovered by snow, the woods had once again taken on a more scraggly unkept look but the bight sunny day gave everything a glowing aura.

Moss and fern species had been uncovered and I was surprised at how vibrantly alive they seemed, not at all damaged by the weight of snow.

Without the snow, I almost felt as though I had been transported back to a chilly fall day. My main reminder that it was still winter was a steady crunch under my feet as I hiked along. The ground was still very frozen in many places and if I looked closely enough there was a thin coat of white ice in the soil.

In some places, ice was still very present. For the first time, I understood why there were stepping stones and logs in place. I am sure that should temperatures rise again soon these areas will be very muddy. Although Biofinder suggested that there were none on Lone Rock Point, these areas also might become vernal pools in the spring.

When I reached the end of the point I was eager to see more ice so I decided to wander down to the Champlain Thrust Fault to see how the ice was accumulating. Here entire trees were coated in thick white ice and the stream flowing down to the lake was entirely frozen. The water must have been splashing very high in order to coat the trees.

Northern White Cedars continue to amaze me. Down at the Thrust Fault I came across two cedars that were alive yet their roots were almost entirely detached from the soil, instead sprawling out over a cliff. Other trees and stumps were tilted sideways, restricted from falling by an intricate root system. At my spot, the root system was once again uncovered by snow and exposed. It is remarkable that these trees manage to survive in areas with such shallow soil.

As with most of my trips, the most common signs of wildlife I found were related to bird species. I came across what appears to be a bluebird feather and heard several pileated woodpeckers as usual. I also discovered an interesting cedar snag that was missing bark on one side. This seems like it could be the work of decomposers or perhaps harsh winds created this unusual situation.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip to Lone Rock Point. Perhaps the next time I visit, the weather will show more consistent signs of spring!

(Original Photographs Copyright Colby Bosley-Smith, 2017)

My spot on Lone Rock Point can be described as a limestone bluff cedar-pine natural community. These are communities that are shaped by the limestone and dolostone bedrock that lies under a very thin layer of soil. As mentioned in previous posts, the primary vegetation at my place are northern white cedars with a sparse understory aside from moss and lichen species on the exposed rocks.

Biofinder identifies the limestone bluff cedar-pine forest on Lone Rock Point as a rare natural community.

On the walk to my site, I travel through a transition hardwood limestone forest community. This community is mainly composed of maple, oak and pine species and is commonly found adjacent to limestone bluff cedar-pine forests.

For the first time, I used Biofinder to better understand the rarity of my place. Surprisingly, all of Lone Rock Point was covered in overlapping yellow circles on Biofinder showing that it is a site inhabited by multiple rare plant species. It is interesting that the north shoreline is entirely outlined. This might suggest that there is a plant species in this area that only lives in limestone bluff-cedar pine communities.

Aside from the natural communities layer shown above, rare plant species was the only other layer in the species and community scale components category that was found at my place.