For the first time when visiting Centennial, it is incredibly clear that winter has arrived. Due to moderate snowfall throughout Sunday and Sunday night, the forest had a fresh blanket when I visited. It was quite the voyage trying to get to my phenology spot because it was at the top of a steep hill, and the trailing a slick ice sheet under the fresh pow. It was totally worth the struggle of getting there as my phenology spot was a perfectly peaceful snowy landscape.
My tracks in the snow were the only human ones to be seen. I found what I thought to be the tracks of a gray squirrel scampering across the top of the hill. There was a second bounder jumping around the site, but it was hard to identify due to the deep snow. It looked as though there were only three tracks. My guess is a second squirrel. There was also a pacer that wandered into the area, but I could also not identify who it may have been.
I identified two trees by their twigs while I was out in Centennial, and found a third twig of a plant that I couldn’t figure out. The first was the American Beech. A dead giveaway for the Beech was the browny-yellow leaves it still held onto. The second was the twig of a Red Oak that I sketched out. The third twig was of one that I couldn’t identify. They were quite common, but I couldn’t match it up with anything on the sheets we were given in class to use as guides.
