My goal was to visit my site and to see spring slowly popping out, but sadly I woke up to about two inches of snow this morning. Although my phonology spot was covered in snow, I still observed the early signs of spring. Due to the recent snowmelt and rain, Centennial Brook’s water level was higher and the water was flowing more rapidly. As evidence of this, I even had a hard time crossing the brook in order to get to my spot. Although finding signs of spring in the snow was a bit difficult, I was still able to identify a few. These included: the fresh green ferns beginning to grow on the forest floor, buds on the trees and bushes, and I heard more birds active than I have during other recent visits.

A full brook (Scannell, 2017)

Using “Wetland, Woodland, Wildland” as  reference I came to the conclusion that my site is an Upland Natural Community. There were a few factors that lead me to this conclusion and those included the water, soils, and plants of my area. Besides Centennial Brook, most of the water in Centennial Woods percolates through the water table and the area does not experience long-term flooding. The soils in Centennial Woods are not overly moist nor overly dry, and those characteristics are in-line with that of an upland natural community. As for plants, besides woody shrubs on the forest floor, the forest is primarily sugar maple, American beech, yellow birch, and hemlock. This leads me to believe that within the characterization of the area as an upland natural community, it can also be characterized as a northern hardwood forest.

Spring Snow (Scannell, 2017)

Utilizing Biofinder I discovered a few different things about my phonology spot in Centennial Woods. Much of Centennial Woods is considered to hold highest priority rare species and rare natural communities. Centennial Woods is also considered to be a priority interior forest block which makes sense as it is one of the few designated natural areas in the city of Burlington. As I laid all the different layers onto the Biofinder map, Centennial Woods exploded into a rainbow of different important natural designations. Although this visit was nice, I am excited to explore my phenology spot with no snow on it!