I definitely misunderstood the assignment at the time because I went to the same place at the time. Hopefully I can still get points for this!
The snow seemed to be melting around the stream before it melts anywhere else. It’s also evidently a stream now instead of just an indent in the snow. The moss and dead leaves from the fall are being uncovered by the snowmelt.
During my time in my phenology spot, I didn’t see many birds that I could photograph, but I did hear several calls that I tried to identify. Firstly, I heard several chickadees and what i thought might be a downy woodpecker. It’s difficult to identify woodpecker sounds but the pattern seemed more like a downy than any other.
I was only able to identify the trees by their bark since they were not budding and only the beech tree had leaves still.