I set out on my adventure to search for signs of early March today and had a great time doing so! I walked down to the waterfront with perfect timing to see the sunset over the water and behind the beautiful mountains. On my way down I was focused on looking at the buds forming on all of the trees. A few trees appeared that I was unable to identify, but they had great buds forming and had a spectacular reddish color to the branches.
As I continued my journey down I studied the birds in the sky, as flocks of crows flew overhead. I was hoping to see more variants of birds, but I may have to wait for the temps to warm up more for them to migrate back.
Once I got down to the waterfront I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to walk on a portion of the lake because it was frozen over. It froze in a very interesting pattern that resulted in triangular and rhombus shapes of thicker white ice and then cracks of very thin and clear ice. You were able to see the lake floor through the thinner sections of ice which was super interesting to see. The way the ice froze on the shore shows the pattern of the waves.
I kept my eye out the whole excursion for animal tracks to see, but they were difficult to find due to the lack of snow and mud. I was only able to see tracks of a dog on the shoreline.
I ended my excursion watching the beautiful sunset on one of the picnic benches. Overall, I had a great time venturing into downtown Burlington and the waterfront, and it was fun to look at my surroundings with a perspective focused on ecology.
