After returning to my site, especially after coming back from Thanksgiving break, a lot has changed. This time, the ground was covered in snow, and very few leaves remained. But there were a few warriors among the bare branches and snow. Starting from the bottom, I noticed there were a few ferns that persisted and peaked through the snow. The only trees in the area that had their leaves still on their branches were a Norway maple and the conifers. One thing I noticed was that all the Maple saplings that were very prominent and noticeable before had now succumbed to the snow to some degree and I wondered, out of all these saplings how, many would actually make it that far.

Thanks to the snow, I was able to notice animal tracks and scat on the way to my phenology site and at the phenology site itself. The tracks found on the way to the site seem to be rabbit tracks, and the tracks and scat at my site just seem to be a dog, but it was cool nonetheless, as I doubt I would notice tracks without the snow. Overall, it seems that animal activity has decreased, as I couldn’t hear any birds and didn’t actually see any little critters, though I did hear something cause the snow to fall off of a large branch, whether it was an animal or just too much snow on the branch I do not know.

I also noticed one of the trees right by the fallen one had begun to rot out a little bit, which was interesting. I wondered how long it had been like that since I last visited and if it might join the other fallen tree one day. I was surprised to see that there were still a lot of leaves on the ground, but I guess it hasn’t been long enough for decomposers to get through the leaves from the fall, which makes me think the tree has been like this for longer than the start of winter, and I just haven’t noticed until now.

I think my favorite part of the phenology site has to be the fallen tree. It is what drew me to the spot, to begin with, and there is something about a fallen tree that just speaks to me, especially one that size. I know the tree fell naturally because the roots were ripped out from the ground, and the tree now serves a new purpose as a shelter for plants and critters and will continue to feed the earth as it decomposes. Something about seeing those later stages of that plant life cycle in nature is so interesting to me, which is why it is my favorite thing about it. Also, I feel like a lumberjack when I stand on it which is a plus.