Given the saturated ground in a Centennial Brook’s floodplain and the plant composition of the area, I would classify my phenology site as a mixture of both a sedge meadow and a cattail marsh. Some people could argue the area to be a rivershore grassland as well, as the area is mainly comprised of grasses and wildflowers. Thinking back to the warmer and more pleasant days of September, cattails, grasses and burdock were the most numerous in the flat floodplain. Along the edges, ash, hemlock and white pine stake their claims, though not a part of the natural community being studied.

In the late summer when I visited my phenology spot for the first time, the floodplain was dry and teeming with life of all kinds. Come fall, the floodplain began to become muddy as the flora and fauna began to dissipate. As of today, no animals were seen, with the ghostly tracks the only remnants of a once vibrant ecosystem. The skeletons of dead plants litter the landscape, though in less than a month they will rise again. The ground, covered in six inches of snow, with frozen mud underfoot, will soon thaw as well, yet the reaction between hydrology and substrate is petrified for the time being. Potential squirrel and fox tracks were found along the edges of the marsh, with deer tracks littered throughout. Life will soon balloon, with days becoming longer, temperatures warming and the days slowly rolling towards the vernal equinox.

Likely Squirrel Tracks
Possible Fox Tracks