Maeve's Phenology Blog

March has been a pretty crazy month. From spending the first half on campus in a snow filled, chilly Burlington, and then coming home to Massachusetts where it has been warm and no-jacket type of weather. Leaving my place in Centennial Woods is somewhat sad but being able to reflect upon changes at home has been really interesting. For this month I decided to reflect on the relationship between time during the day with temperature.

For the majority of my week spent reflecting from my window and the very few times I went outside, it had constantly been warm at about 50*C during mid-day (which is warm for New England). Each and every morning I would begin by looking at the weather app to see how much the temperature would change throughout the day because I was not about to wake up early and feel how cold it was outside. In the morning, the temperature would be around 40 degrees and then mid day reach the high and from then on become colder. This relationship is so fascinating even though it makes sense as to why it occurs (as the sun rises it gets warmer and as it sets it becomes colder).

As I sat up in my third floor bedroom, looking at the window (and the weather app) I could tell which days would be colder and warmer. Most of the week the sun was out and when my window was open, I could hear the birds chirping in the distance. On March 23, the sky was gloomy and the temperature was cold. Around 4pm it had started to snow and for the rest of the night it continued in a continuous, heavy-ish snow. It continued for most of the night and the next morning I woke up to about 6 inches of snow. Sadly, as the day passed and the sun came out, the snow had disappeared by 3pm. It is so crazy how fast things can change with the temperature and time of day.

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On March 26, I finally made the mood to go outside for an hour to reflect on time and temperature. I sat out on my back steps in the sun feeling the warmth increase with the hour. The snow was all gone, the birds and squirrels were moving through the trees. Time and temperature are a really unique thing.

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Today is February 23 and typically there is a lot of snow and it is really, really cold. Although the snow part is true, today was the perfect temperature: 40 and sunny. This made the trip to my spot in Centennial a lot easier. Because it was warmer, the snow had started to melt but because there was a huge snowstorm about 2 weeks ago, it didn’t really make a difference. However, compared to January, the larger amounts of snow did make a bigger difference. All the plants and leaves were still dead except the occasional moss on trees. Some changes were made in the brook because the high levels of snow, the brook had become slightly smaller. Some parts of the stream had thick layers of ice on top while others did not. The stream was still moving at a decent pace under the ice.

Other than a lot of human tracks, not many wildlife tracks were seen except the occasional dog track. Birds were chirping in the distance but none were seen. As we were almost out of Centennial, my friend and I noticed a track that looked just like a deer track deep in the snow. We followed the tracks off the trail for about 20 or so yards where we finally found a large flat space. In this space, there was on large spot where there was no snow and lots of scat in a few different spots in the area. After doing some research, we were positive that the tracks and the scat were from deer.

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These tracks and scat were most likely made by a white-tailed deer which are very common here in Vermont. White-tailed deer are very adaptable and can live in many different habitat types however, they prefer to live/stay near the forest edge. This makes sense as to why it was so close to the entrance of Centennial. It makes sense as to why the deer would be in Centennial in the winter because it gives them more coverage from the snow and people. During the day deer often are hiding or sleeping or looking for food/moving while at night they do very similar things except at night white-tailed deer are trying to avoid predators (“White Tailed Deer”).

White-tailed deer eat a variety of leaves, twigs, and nuts from various tree species. They also eat small plants, grasses and some types of fruit. In Vermont during hunting season, humans are probably considered one of the top predators for deer. Other predators include, wolves, mountain lions, bears etc. These predators are highly unlikely to be found in Centennial so the tracks are most likely not running away from one of them (“White Tailed Deer”). The path to where the tracks ended had many low branches that the deer could have eaten. Based off of the scat and the large indent in the snow, I imagine that the deer came to this area to take a bathroom break and to lay down because it was wide open with not many trees or plants on the ground.

This was such a cool thing to find that I never thought I would see especially in Centennial so I think today I went on the perfect day. This definitely helped me connect more to my place.

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Works Cited:

“White-Tailed Deer.” White-Tailed Deer | Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, vtfishandwildlife.com/learn-more/vermont-critters/mammals/white-tailed-deer.

Since being back at UVM, this was my first time being back at my location. To no surprise at all, my spot in Centennial Woods had changed drastically. The walk to my spot was so icy and the snow was tightly packed. As I arrived to my spot I was not shocked to see that all of the trees were bare and the woody plants and shrubs looked dead. There was not much green showing anywhere because of the 2 to 4 inches of snow on the ground.

The stream was going at a slow pace and the bend of the stream had gotten a tad smaller due to the snow most likely making the dirt fall into the stream. Part of the stream had a very, very thin layer of ice on top but it was not the entire thing because the stream was flowing.

Sadly, during my time at my spot there were no signs of wildlife. The only tracks I had found were human tracks. In the distance a bird could be heard but I did not have a range on how far away it was. Along the snow, there were some seeds scattered around which did give me some indication that there were birds around at some point.

The twig that I had ID’ed in Centennial was a sugar maple. I could ID this one because of the obvious terminal buds and the lateral budding on the sides.

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Before coming to college, my sense of place has always been my friends, my family, my home, my beautiful (but sometimes strange) town of North Andover, Massachusetts. Coming to Burlington was something really new and different but because it reminded me of home it made it easier to create a sense of feeling here. However, nothing will ever be able to replace where I grew up for the most important years of my life.

North Andover is (somewhat)  the ideal image of what a town should have and look like. The town has a rich history dating back to the early 1600s and is something that the town holds with pride with many historical houses and landmarks still being preserved. Originally the town was settled as Andover (our now neighboring town) which is highly famous during the Salem Witch Trials since about 50 people were accused of being witches from Andover, As time progressed, more and more people moved to the area including many famous people that are important to our town’s history and development (TIMELINE). Although time progressed and more and more buildings, roads, and houses were being built, the town has always held the old-timey landscape to create this more historic and homey feel. For example, North Andover has maintained the brick building style with a rotary and beautiful, old churches that still stand. Another major biophysical aspect that is important to the town is the beautiful Lake Cochichewick and Steven’s Pond, both which are really important for the health and well being of the residents. A small (yet large biophysical aspect) that really reminds me of my sense of place is that the roads are placed so confusingly such as weird one way streets and very little direct roads from one place to another. It’s something that so many people get angry at but I just laugh and know its part of being from North Andover. Also, technically North Andover is a “college town” since we have Merrimack College here but a lot of people don’t think that at all.

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Although a cool history and interesting landscape is nice for a sense of place, I think the greatest factors for me is my family history in the town and the friends and memories that I made. The entirety of my mom’s side of the family had grown up/still lives in the town. This goes all the way back to my great grandmother. This tradition had continued down to my grandparents who met and fell in love in North Andover to me going to preschool down the street from where I live today. Although I moved away for a bit, my home has always been North Andover and knowing stories from my grandparents, my mom, and other people really makes me appreciate what the town has become for the most part. The town has definitely gone through major changes (mostly a large increase in population) but the look of the town has lasted which I know would make my Nana so beyond happy. There are definitely some major flaws, but what doesn’t have flaws. Moving back in sixth grade was tough but over the years I have made some of the bestest friends anyone could ever ask for. Coming back from college and seeing them felt like we had never been separated. I think when you have this sort of feeling with people in a specific place, it’s a good sign that you are in the right place.

Overall, place-attachment and place-meaning impact my well-being a lot more than what I expected. Leaving for college I knew was going to be hard and even though I had adjusted to living somewhere new really easily, I still had a sense of home sick. North Andover was the only place I ever really knew. Coming back for Thanksgiving break made me realize how much I love where I live and how comfortable I am here. Coming back for a short amount of time and seeing friends and family I hadn’t seen in months really made me feel so much better and definitely will help how I will feel going back to school. However, I know that by being in a new place I will truly be able to live my full potential with nothing holding me back.   

Work Cited

TIMELINE. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.northandoverhistoricalsociety.org/timeline.

Although my spot in Centennial doesn’t necessarily give me the greatest feeling of sense of place, it is still definitely somewhere I know I can feel safe and can give me some sort of peace. Over the very short amount of time of going to this place, it has been really fascinating to watch the phenological changes taking place. Although it could be considered a bit sad and depressing going from the first visit which was in the 50s to going to the most recent visit where it was 35 and snowing, the changes were really cool. There was really no evidence of any living plant life (leaves on trees, shrubs, woody plants), but that have also been due to the fact they could have been covered in snow. More sediment has been deposited into the river and more roots could be seen along the edge. Unlike the last visit where we only saw insects, migratory birds were heard and a chipmunk was seen. 

Generally, the sense of place in terms of the biophysical aspect, has changed drastically since the first blog post. These changes can definitely be seen throughout the entirety of Centennial Woods. I can’t wait to go back in the spring when everything is alive and the cycle has gone full circle. In terms of my spot by the river as a whole, I feel most connected to watching the physical changes. It’s a really cool feeling to have these blog posts and photos of a place that I can call my own without me having to really own it. I know that later in life it will be really interesting how my sense of place has changed when I look back at my spot. My favorite thing is that I think I know my spot like the back of my hand. Another cool thing is the fact that I know some history of the place and what it was used for in past times. Not many people can probably do this about where they feel a sense of place. Centennial in general plays a pretty big part of the history of UVM and Burlington. 

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The day after a rainstorm creates a very different environment, especially since the weather has become colder. The stream was fast moving, widened at the bends and narrower in some spots. It also had a high turbidity because of the increased amount of sediment found in the water. Not many different animal species were found due to the fact that it rained a lot the night before and when this occurs, animals typically go into hiding of some sort. The two species of animals that I found under logs close to the stream was a slug and a worm. Worms and slugs are usually always found after a rainstorm, so I’m not surprised we found some. Other organisms were all some type of plant or tree. There was some form of plant that had berries on it that looked like blueberries, maple trees that lost leaves, grass that had been flattened from the high amount of rain and water that has been flowing through for the past day or two. 

Since the last visit I had at Centennial Woods, the trees have almost completely lost all of their leaves. The trees that still have their leaves are mostly brown and look as if they were about to fall off. The leaves may have fallen off however, due to the high winds that occurred during the storm. Many other woody plants have also started to die and their leaves have become brown. There was a lot of leaf debris that could be seen all along the path down to our specific location along with in the water. The soil was similar to the last visit however, the soil was muddier due to the high precipitation the night prior. Along the banks of the stream, their was more exposed roots because the water was moving quicker, meaning more sediment was being pulled out. While I was mapping out my place, I had to think about how things would change since the last time I visited my place. Realizing that it had rained the night prior, I knew that the stream was most likely moving faster meaning it was most likely going to be wider. This understanding of how nature works gives me a deeper understanding of how things change over time. 

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Welcome to my Phenology Blog! Check back soon for updates on the brook in Centennial woods!