Feeds:
Posts
Comments

The Abenaki tribes were in Centennial woods before the European Settlers came and they used the natural resources around them to sustain themselves. They didn’t change the landscape much except for occasional controlled fires to make pasture like land for hunting and traveling. When the European Settlers came they ravaged the forest to clean for pasture land which was soon abandoned. Then as another wave of trees was growing they chopped those down too for farming and what we see now is the second growth forest with the Eastern White Pines and some left over barbed wire in Centennial the evidence of past farm or pasture land.

Photo rights belong to Liz McDonnell 2018

This is an birds eye satellite image of my spot in Centennial taken in 2017.

This is the same area but taken in 1937. As you can see next to the baseball field the area east is chopped down mostly and it is not as populated by trees as it is now.

 

Images from http://wboykinm.github.io/btv-1937/#15/44.5093/-73.2260

Morris, Bill,. Burlington Geographic Satellite Imagery of Burlington 1936-2015. http://wboykinm.github.io/btv-1937/#15/44.5093/-73.2260

Thanksgiving Break Post

 

This is my google maps location of my thanksgiving phenology place.

In the style of Mabel Wright

Barren and solemn naught in the overhead but a spare leaf here or there. A squirrel passes by chittering away looking for its stored nuts to stave off the hunger the wintry weather brings. When the wind blows the rattling of leaves is a reminder of the likes of a long forgotten music. The occasional chirp of birds can be heard though it is rare and scarce to be heard. A leaf pile can be found in the open clearing like a long forgotten coat left on its own to decompose. There can be found the skeletal remains of long gone wine berry bushes scattered around the outskirts of the clearing. The topography and landscape reveals a southerly decline while a deer trail meanders westwards. A great oak spreads its branches skyward with the remains of an old tree stand showing itself in the form of leftover rotted planks of wood. Northwards a family of boxelders can be found to the east and west of a trail until you reach a dilapidated fence.  The sweet briars can be found with their red berries and thorns luring those yearning to touch and leaves them pricked and bloody. Prickly lettuce remains underfoot and finds ways to cause discomfort by becoming caught in-between articles of clothes.

 

The comparison of ecology and phenology in the words of Aldo Leopold

As November comes and goes so do the leaves found in both this new place and the old place in friendly Burlington. It is brisk and barren looking in both places with little foliage above but plenty underneath the foot. When considering the wildlife that runs through the sites it is clearly apparent that grey squirrels inhabit both places. Comparing the view at each spot while one is on a hill and the other is not both have a nice view of the landscape through the tree branches. Both places provide a source of food for wildlife in the forms of twigs and bark from trees and bushes. Looking at the climate of each place they are startlingly similar even thought the Vermont spot is more northern. The rabbits found in both the new spot and in Burlington have adapted their coats to be brown like their background and remain alert to predators and the sounds of crunching leaves.

Photo Credit: Liz McDonnell

There is my event map starting from top and winding its way to the bottom.

Today I noticed a lot less vegetation. The ground was littered with leaves and the majority of colours I saw were orange and brown. When I looked in the surrounding tree line I saw a speckle of green and yellow but a majority of the deciduous trees are barren now.

My Place

Up, up, and away

Yonder past the pond and baseball field,

through the stand of white pines under a sugar maple,

I lie.

A bird over here a squirrel over there,

birds aplenty,

transformers and power cables mar the view.

A Field of Phragmites have conquered the hillside,

to the east lies the green of coniferous trees,

to the west lies many a sugar maple.

The landscape is alive in many ways and yet I feel completely alone

the twitter and twatter of birds is what I hear

along with the incessant background of vehicles and airplanes.

I am in the wild and yet I am not/

Through the looking glass I see naught but a reflection,

perhaps another day, another time, another place.

Here is the bunny I saw on my way out.

This is a marker I noticed on my center tree.

 

Photo Credit: Liz McDonnell

After visiting my spot this Sunday in the hail I noticed that the temperature change in the weather has caused the ferns to start turning yellow and other weeds and vegetation to die off. The deciduous trees are also changing colour and turning beautiful shades of oranges, reds, and yellows.

This is a panorama of my spot over looking the pond. This is facing northwards.

This is another Panorama facing Westwards.

This Panorama is North West facing the baseball fields.

The vegetation is also I feel more brittle and the younger more delicate vegetation is dying off.

Some evidence of wildlife I came across is several piles of scat and what looks like a burrow at the bottom of a tree.

 

 

This is what I think is some animals small burrow in the roots of the tree.

This is a dead tree where it looks like a wood pecker has been getting a good workout pecking away at the wood.

These are more pictures of scat that I found from what I believe to be the same animal as in the previous two scat pictures.

 

Today I also came across a few birds and a gray squirrel.

Here is my birds eye view map.

Photo Credit: Liz McDonnell

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1n_4O6Kkh5qQSXSjW40eeLqW666Lve5bx&usp=sharing

 

Introduction

 

 

Greetings Dear Reader,

The place I chose was in Centennial Woods near the Centennial Brook and the baseball field. To get there from central campus residence hall you have to turn right on Colchester heading toward Trinity Campus then turn right on East Ave. Next go left on University Road then turn right onto a dirt and gravel road to the side entrance of the centennial woods natural area. When you enter the trail you will need to go straight then at at the first intersection turn left towards the wooden fence then follow the trail until you reach another intersection. Here you will see the white natural area sign which you need to turn left towards. Keep going on that path and pass the white chair and you will notice to your left that there is a pond surrounded by a fence and a field with telephone poles in it.  My spot is to your left and its center point is a sugar maple with a white golf ball near the base.

I chose this place after visiting the area during my Intro to Environmental Studies class for a lab. It was a prime spot I believed for my Phenology project because I was told that there were beaver and mink in the pond nearby. I also like how it was bordering a meadow and showed different habitats so close to each other. Another factor that helped me choose that spot was because it was easily accessible and a short 5 minute bike ride away.

Photo Credit: Liz McDonnell

A Description of My Site

A panorama picture of my site

 

As you can see my site still has a lot of green in it along with a relatively dense under story filled primarily with ferns. The colors are changing to orange and red on the ground as well as a little yellow in the trees. As I was walking through my site I found a lot of Sugar, Maple, Norway, and Striped Maple on my site of varying ages. I also saw Eastern White Pine, Yellow Birch, Eastern Hemlock, and Black Cherry Trees.

 

A list of the most common woody plants I saw were

  • Ferns
  • Honey Suckle
  • Phragmites
  • Glossy & Common Buckthorn
  • Barberry

 

Photo Credit: Liz McDonnell

Skip to toolbar