This week I took my usual walk through Centennial Woods, but this time keeping a careful eye out for any trees with twigs I could access. On the way to my spot, I was happy to find what looked like a baby red maple.
I identified this tree based on its red color and the look of the buds, which were in clusters.
I differentiated this red maple from the sugar and Norway maple mostly based on its color, which is red like its name. Also, based on the Winter Tree Identification sheet we have, it looked to be in between the thicker green-red Norway maple twig and the skinny brown sugar maple twig.
Once I decided that this tree was a red maple, I uploaded my photos to iNaturalist, noting that the state of the tree had no evidence of flowering.
The location that I was at isn’t too obvious, but it was on my usual walk to my actual phenology spot, I just stopped right before the first wooden bridge on the trail. The red maple was on the right side of the trail, not too far off of it. I didn’t want to go super far through Centennial Woods because the day I went it was super icy and I was sliding all over the place.
Hopefully, I will be able to find this same red maple when I go back in a few weeks to see its phenological progress!
