I think that its safe to say that spring has finally sprung in Burlington for the year. Friday, I visited my spot at Oakledge Park and was happy to see the first signs of the new season. I did not see any signs of wildflowers or new vegetation, except for maybe ferns. I did, however, notice that many of the trees and shrubs were starting to bud leaves. This was most exciting to me, because it means that soon enough, there will be leaves back on the trees. The shrub that I decided to draw had opposite branches and bright green buds that were approximately a centimeter long. The messy sketch of the branches was just meant to show how entangled the limbs of the shrub were, and the sketch of the bud was more detailed. The photo is what I decided to draw from, and my camera refused to focus so it is a little blurry.

The moss was also starting to turn a bright green color, and the land was beginning to dry out. There was also little-to-no ice left along Lake Champlain. I noticed several robins (through their calls and their orangey-red bellies), which is always a welcomed sight. I personally did not noticed any signs of amphibian life; I don’t think that my spot, which is located near a cliff is a good habitat for the animals. The most obvious sign of spring that I noticed was the plant life. Although no new flowers were blooming, it was very exciting to start to see speckles of green along the tips of tree branches. Buds are finally here!

Since Oakledge park is a long-developed (one of my previous posts discusses the history of the park) segment of land, there is hardly an interior forest at my place. The nearest edge to my spot is about 25-30 feet downhill, where the pathway and the grassy part of the park resides. I would say that for the most part, there are no interior species within my spot, because there isn’t much of a deep forest interior, and humans do frequent the surrounding area. I do think that my spot harbors a lot of small animal activity, because I often notice signs of birds (their calls and feces) and squirrels (literally seeing them) and rabbits (tracks in the winter). I think that my spot offers good habitat for animals living in and around the neighboring residential community where animals can have lesser interactions with humans. I don’t think that my spot would provide a good habitat for larger species, even if they thrive on edge habitats because the edge near my spot is quite narrow, and humans do regularly trek through it.