We were tasked with finding a tree at our phenology that was either a Northern red oak, American beech, red maple, or paper birch, and identifying them by their buds. Most of the trees in my phenology site are very tall and have inaccessible twigs, except for many young American beeches. Additionally, there were no paper birches on my site! Using iNaturalist, I recorded the phenological stage of a young American beech. This one was showing no signs of flowering yet. I know this tree was an American beech and not a look-alike young maple because of its distinguishable and conspicuous cigar-like buds, and the remaining old leaves.
