Centennial Woods Phenology by Allison Shepherd

This is a bird’s-eye map of my place in Centennial Woods depicting the different tree species present in the area.

During the two and half hours I spent at my place on October 22nd, I observed many different animals using my place as habitat. I saw several gray squirrels, all alone at different times. They seemed to be foraging for food. I also heard some crows in the distance, and then saw two of them fly overhead a few minutes later. I heard a lot of chirping from birds high up in the trees above me, but I couldn’t identify them because I don’t have the skills to identify them just by call yet. Later, I watched a small brown bird foraging in the leaves for a few minutes before it flew away. I also saw a small bird land in one of the black cherry trees, but I couldn’t see it well enough to identify it.

At this point in the season, multiple trees at my place have lost their leaves completely. There are lots of leaves on the ground, many of which I identified to be red maple leaves. The oak trees I observed at my place still have their leaves, which are beautiful shades of yellow and orange. Many of the leaves on one of the white oak trees I saw were still green in the center, and were yellow around the edges. Currently, these trees are forming their abscission layer where the leaf stems join the branches, which cuts off water and nutrients to the leaves and causes them to change color and fall off the tree. One sugar maple tree I saw had bright yellow leaves. I was unable to properly identify some of the other trees because they had already lost all of their leaves. The needles on the eastern hemlock trees seemed to be primarily near the ends of the branches.

This is the entrance I take to get to my location within Centennial Woods. It is located just past 179 Catamount Drive in Burlington, VT. Enter here and follow the directions from “Introduction” to find the clearing.

Centennial Woods is located east of the UVM campus.

(2020). [Map showing location of Centennial Woods in Burlington, VT]. Google Maps. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Centennial+Woods+Natural+Area/@44.4757785,-73.1877625,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4cca7a4064285555:0xa16586518a8db548!8m2!3d44.4757785!4d-73.1855738

(2020). [Map showing location of Centennial Woods in Burlington, VT]. Google Maps. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Centennial+Woods+Natural+Area/@44.4757785,-73.1877625,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4cca7a4064285555:0xa16586518a8db548!8m2!3d44.4757785!4d-73.1855738

There are many tall trees and many different species surrounding the clearing. This is a Northern Hardwood Forest. Some of the most common woody plants here are Eastern Hemlock, Eastern White Pine, Red Maple, Northern Red Oak, Norway Maple, Northern White Cedar, Eastern White Pine, White Oak, Paper Birch, and Yellow Birch. At this point in the season, some trees’ leaves are changing color and starting to fall off the branches. Most trees still have most of their leaves though, and many haven’t even started changing color.

Hello! Welcome to my Centennial Woods place-based phenology project blog! For my project, I decided to focus on Centennial Woods because I’ve been there many times throughout the semester already, and I’m so excited to observe the changes throughout the seasons! For me, Centennial Woods is the perfect place to explore and connect with nature, and forget about anything stressing me out.

Within Centennial Woods, I chose to focus on the area around the crossroads clearing. This clearing is a crossroads for the trail network, and has many impressive features. To get to this place, enter Centennial Woods at the main trailhead. Then, follow the trail down the hill until you reach a small clearing. Continue to the left, down the hill, and over the footbridges until you reach a second small clearing. Here, take the trail to the right, walking over the footbridges to the bottom of the hill, and then continue following the boardwalk through the Centennial Brook floodplain. Once you pass the “Muddy Buddies” sign, follow the trail in front of you until you reach the crossroads clearing.