Over the past 8 months, I have watched this landscape grow and change. It went from lush green, to cold and snowy, and now it is on its way to being green again. I have observed the leaves on the trees go from green, to orange, to barren, to red with buds.
October
March
May
I know where the deer like to play in this little spot in the forest.
I have spent hours in the woods trying to learn the ways of the creatures inhabiting it. I feel like I truly am a part of this place. I know it better than any other spot in the woods. I can recognize the trees as I am coming up the hill. I know the in’s and out’s of this landscape. I wish that I had become friends with a squirrel or something to really prove my point. But even if the plants and animals don’t know me, I know them.
As for nature and culture in this area, I have seen the remnants of logging that has happened in the past. The trail that I walk on is a logging road and many of the trees in the forest are marked with blue spray paint, indicating that they shouldn’t be cut. Humans have interacted with this landscape over time. Utilizing the resources that it provides. My neighbors get their water supply from the brook. My dads friends go hunting in the fall and spring. My family heats our house in the winter with wood from this forest. This landscape provides for us in ways that we could never return.
Signs of spring popping up through the understory. It’s still too early for the fiddleheads but smaller fauna are beginning to emerge.
European Comma was out and about enjoying the sun
A young beech has green buds
A small birch trees buds are beginning to burst
The beech trees buds are still intact.
The birds were chirping all morning. I couldn’t get a good picture and I don’t know birds calls well enough to identify them. I did see a robin but it flew away before I could get a good picture.
The small brook was moving fast as all of the water melts on the mountain
I explored a higher elevation over spring break. I went for a short hike on a narrow, winding road that is closed for the winter. This time of year the road is used by hikers, skiers, and snow machine riders. The trees at the high elevation were different from those in the lower parts of Jeffersonville. I noticed a lot of white birch trees and some maples. It was surprisingly still a mostly deciduous forest. There were no hemlocks, my usual phenology spot is mainly hemlock trees.
I did not see a lot of animal tracks in the area aside from those of a domestic dog. I think that wild animals try to keep away from the large groups of tourists that are frequently on the road. Though animal tracks were few and far between, there was a lot of ski track both on the road (right) and in the surrounding forest (left). It is common for people to hike up the mountain and then ski down, some people even sled.
The area is very popular in the winter and there are amazing views so I completely understand why. My dog absolutely loves going on walks up the mountain. I did not see any bird species on my hike. That could be due to the elevation or the large groups of people that are constantly on the trail. I haven’t noticed a ton of bird species in my usual phenology spot either, I don’t think that bird watching is really my thing. Hopefully I will get to spot some once the weather gets nicer.
When classifying my phenology spot, I looked at the canopy and saw that the majority of the trees were hemlocks. I thought this could be due to the fact that all of the other trees don’t have leaves this time of year. But, upon further investigation of the forest, looking at the trunks of the trees, I noticed that hemlocks were still in the majority. There is also a high count of yellow birch trees, I almost classified it as a hemlock-yellow birch forest but there are too many maple and american beech trees to declare it as a hemlock-yellow birch forest.
Phenological changes
My first visit to my phenology site was in the early fall and all of the leaves were still on the trees. I have watched the trees transform into their bare, winter state. The understory has diminished this winter. I think this is due to the high deer activity in my location, they have been eating all of the young beech trees that once made up the understory. The stream has a layer of ice and snow on top and I could only see the water in one spot (the black rectangle in the middle of the picture on the right).
These species match the ones that I found in the fall when I identified the trees in my location. The blackberry bush is a new addition to my species list. It is quite small so I probably overlooked it.
After a month away from my phenology site, I went back on a cold, sunny day to look for animal tracks. I found lots of deer tracks throughout the forest. I didn’t expect to see large clumps of tracks (see the first picture). The tracks appear to be a large deer gathering. They could have been feeding on the low hanging branches. I had suspected in the fall that the deer enjoyed my phenology spot by the stream, now I have photographic evidence. The animal tracks are the largest difference that I see in my phenology site since my last visit.
My phenology location has seen a lot of human influence. It is close to a stream so I assume many early settlers would want to live near that freshwater source. The land has clearly seen a lot of logging, the land does not have much of an understory to it. The stream also provided a source of stones to use when making stone walls to hold in sheep. I never noticed much of a stone wall but looking back on one picture I think I notice the remains of one.
Along with the use of this land in the past for farming, the land is currently being used for hunting. There is a hunting stand visible near the location. This area is also seeing regular logging practices which are preventing old growth from appearing. The logging practices are beneficial to the forest in the long run because it ensures the prevention of diseases spreading from tree to tree. When the forest was logged two years ago, they had to clear-cut a few acres of our forest because of a disease. I do not know what the disease was.
LeopoldStyleDescription
The snow made a loud crunching noise with every step I took. There was a thick layer of icy crust that has built up since the first snow. The snow beneath the crust is dense and moist on this warm, November day. The snow was the same color as the high hanging clouds in the sky. The trees too had turned a shade of grey, now that the leaves have fallen. In the field, there were many breaks in the crust of the snow. The dents looked like the path of a deer, its thin legs puncturing the snow. It seemed like the deer had gathered in that one spot on the field. There was a large clump of tracks near the forest edge. Beyond the field, there were rolling mountains in shades of blue to the west. If you look southward you can see the remains of an old stone wall. The stones themselves are covered in a thick layer of snow. If you continue walking past the stone wall, you enter a sugarbush. Large, old Sugar Maple trees fill the space. Some had peeling bark which made them difficult to recognize at first. There was a trail cutting through the forest which made me wonder who else uses this land. Perhaps a sugaring operation or a hunting camp lies deep in the woods. I guess there is only one way to find out.
Holland Style Comparison
The two locations I have used in this blog are remarkably different considering they are in the same town. My usual location has shown little animal activity compared to what I saw in my temporary location. My usual spot is near a stream and I would assume that the deer like being near a freshwater source. However, I haven’t seen any signs of deer in that location since my first visit. I think that the snow helped me track animal activity. Hopefully, I will notice more animal activity in my usual location now that there is snow. Another potential reason there is a difference in animal activity could also be due to the rise of a hunting season. Animal activity often fluctuates throughout the seasons. As a result of these factors, I cannot attribute the difference in animal evidence to the locations themselves.
In addition to the difference in animal activity, I noticed a difference in sound between the two locations. There is always a muffling effect that happens when there is snow on the ground. Today, the field was nearly silent except for the road nearby. My usual location is loud due to the stream. The stream has also caused my usual location to be very wet. There is a lot of moss in my usual phenology location, there was almost none in this new spot. Comparing two locations has helped me to better understand natural patterns because it gave me a larger sample.
All of the leaves have fallen, including the leaves from the small Beech trees. There is little undergrowth that is still alive. There are still some green ferns. I have not seen any new signs of wildlife. I keep looking in all of the trees to see if there are signs of woodpeckers but I haven’t seen any. I noticed a hunting stand a few meters from the perimeter of my location, I wonder if that human activity has scared off the wildlife.
Phenology Location History:
A large amount of brush on the edge of the forest is there because of recent logging. Two years ago, my family’s land was forested in order to promote new growth and overall forest health. Regular logging practices are required because my family sublets the land to the state. I can see the remains of this logging in the brush and some in the spray paint marks left on some of the trees. I wonder how this logging has affected the wildlife patterns in my phenology locations.
Although it is snowing, there is no snow accumulation on the ground. It is still early for snow to be falling. All of the leaves have fallen except for the ones on the small American Beech trees. I wonder why the small tree’s leaves changed colors later and lost their leaves later. Perhaps, it is because it is warmer below the canopy. In the forested area, the ferns and other undergrowth have died, but the undergrowth near the path is still alive.
There were not many signs of animal life. I did see some deer scat two weeks ago. I did not see any scat today. I wonder if the difference in wildlife patterns has to do with the changing of the seasons. The deer like to go into evergreen areas for the winter and my phenology location is mostly hardwoods.
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