With the first phenology assignment of the new semester, I was able to witness my site with a fair amount of snow. The dense over story of the Eastern Hemlocks prevented the snow from completely covering the ground in most of the site. However, there was enough snow to identify a few animal tracks. The stream (a tributary of Potash Brook) was frozen over for the first time since last semester. I was not going to test the ice though. The stream still seemed to be flowing fairly rapidly beneath the ice.
I also noticed that there seemed to be even more debris on the ground. The only Eastern White Pine in the site had dropped some sizable branches. A winter storm that rolled through over winter break probably produced this.
My site is practically an Eastern Hemlock monoculture, so finding twigs to identify would require moving outside what I would consider to be the bounds of my site. I knew there was some buckthorn in my site, but it was oddly difficult to find a suitable twig to sketch. I headed up to the top of the stream bed where I found some mature paper birches and maples, but their twigs were too high off the ground to reach. Luckily, I discovered a small American beech to photograph and sketch the buds of.
I discovered at least three animals at my site. Firstly, I found some cottontail rabbit tracks on top of the ice on the stream.
Secondly, I found some tracks that resemble those of a gray fox; however, due to the close proximity to the pedestrian path, they are most likely those of a dog. Then again, I didn’t find any human tracks accompanying them.
Finally, the tracks that I found all over my site were those of a small bounder, most likely a mink, since it was near or on top of water. However, it also could have been a weasel or both. I noticed that it looked like the animal had slid across the ice at one point.
All in all it was a great visit. The site appeared to have gone through the most dramatic changes that I’ve seen it go through between two separate visits. I’m excited to see what comes next!