Allie’s NR1 Phenology Project

During the BioBlitz I went to Centennial Woods and Potash Brook to make observations. Over the course of the four days I made 462 observations and observed 117 species. I went on three hikes, two in Centennial and one in Potash Brook.

I had a great time going out in the woods. It was relatively rainy the few days I was out but it was kind of nice, the rain makes the forest quieter, it makes it easier to be at peace and calm while you are out there.

Overall my experience using iNaturalist was a good. I was frankly very impressed that the app could identify the species within a minute of uploading the photo. My only problem with the app was that it drained the battery on my phone which limited my ability to be out for an extended amount of time.

In the overall BioBlitz I was surprised to see Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston/Galveston in the top 5 of the overall standings. I guess I never considered them to be places with a lot of nature, when I think Texas I think of deserts. Dallas/Fort Worth recorded 45,518 observations and 2,998 species, many of them were incredibly pretty flowers. Houston/Galveston had 38,379 observations and 3,566 species, they had 182 observations of a Pond Slider turtle, which again is not something that I would associate with Texas.

The walk to my phenology spot was rainy today. I really like the smell when its raining, I can’t describe it but it is something calming for me and being in the woods while it was raining was actually kind of nice.

The area has started to look a lot more like it did when I first got there. The trees have less leaves on them but you can see them budding out. The greenery on the forest floor has returned as well as the leaves on some of the smaller trees and bushes. Overall nothing major has changed in my phenology spot. All of the major elements have remained the same, the big patch of mud is still there and a lot more slippery (I almost fell multiple times), the big hemlocks are all still there as is my reference hemlock sapling and the large patch of bushes next to the stream.

I feel weirdly connected to my place. I can’t really describe it. I have had fun seeing the changes that have occurred throughout the seasons. I wouldn’t say what that I fell like I am fully apart of my place but I feel a connection to it.

The forest is a lot greener than it was last time. I like it when the woods are green and there are leaves on the trees. It makes it feel more complete and it looks less sad than it does in the winter.

The Rain Poem by William Henry Davies

I hear leaves drinking rain;
I hear rich leaves on top
Giving the poor beneath
Drop after drop;
‘Tis a sweet noise to hear
These green leaves drinking near.

And when the Sun comes out,
After this Rain shall stop,
A wondrous Light will fill
Each dark, round drop;
I hope the Sun shines bright;
‘Twill be a lovely sight.

I quite enjoyed the nice weather on my walk to my tree, it was much better than the slipping, sliding and falling I was doing a month ago on all the ice and snow.

The little buds that were growing closely out of the branches have sprouted into their own twigs! I though that this was really cool to be able to notice because it isn’t something that I have seen and paid attention to previously. One interesting thing that I notice was that the upper branches (picture 3) did not yet have these twigs sticking out, they were more similar to what I had seen previously, I’m not sure entirely what could have caused this but I would be interested to find out.

I am very proud of my tree. It is doing a great job growing and I feel an attachment to it. I hope that it continues to thrive throughout its life and grow up into a nice big tree.

After my previous error I went out into Centennial Woods in search of a proper tree. I found a small paper birch sapling. It is smaller than the one that I found while I was at home, and the buds look more developed than they did on that one two weeks ago. I know that this a paper birch because it lacks the minty smell of its nearest look a like, the yellow birch. When I broke off a twig and scratch off some bark I did not get the minty smell. I thought that this was a cool way to distinguish the two species of trees because smell wouldn’t have been the first sense I would have used to identify a tree.

I was having trouble getting iNaturalist to work today so here is a map depicting my trees location within Centennial Woods. Its coordinates are 44°28’37.1″N 73°11’16.5″W

So, I made a mistake. I had looked at the images of the different types buds before I went out into Centennial Woods and I thought that I had a good bud that was on a young Northern Red Oak. I thought that the bark looked similar and so did the shape of the bud. I went home shortly after I went out in Centennial and when I went to work on this post I realized that I was wrong. This is likely the bud of a sugar maple tree. I plan to go out in Centennial when I get back to Burlington and find a proper tree to chronical.

While I am at home I asked my dad, an ecologist who is currently teaching a plant ecophysiology class, to help me work on identifying different types of tree buds. I managed to find all four of the assignments speices on our property at home.

Winter Wildlife Signs in Burlington – Centennial Woods Natural Area

I went out for a walk in Centennial Woods in order to look for wildlife signs. I chose Centennial because I knew that I was likely to find tracks there and that there would still be snow on the ground there. It took me a while to find a set of tracks but I did manage to find 3 different sets of tracks that I am fairly confident belong to the same species. Once I figured out iNaturalist it was easy to use and I found it interesting to see what others had found around the city.

I am fairly confident that theres tracks belong to a squirrel. I currently have misplaced my copy of the tracks and scat book so I had to do some research when I got done with my hike. I looked up what the tracks of red and gray squirrels looked like in snow and I feel as though these more closely resemble the tracks of an Eastern Gray Squirrel.

It was fun to follow the tracks through the woods, they never went in a straight path and went all over the place. It felt like they told a story about what the animal was doing. It was a fun way to be connected to the forest and the animals that live within it.

I returned to my phenology spot from last semester. There do not appear to have been many changes to phenology spot. The most major change is the snow, the remaining leafy ferns that were on the hillside are now covered in snow.

I was not able to find many tracks aside from the obvious human footprints. The whole area was disturbed by human footprints and it appeared that they were using the spot at the bottom of the hill to cross the stream. There was a set paw prints from what I am assuming is a dog, as I have often seen people out in Centennial Woods with their dogs.

Winter Morning Poem by Ogden Nash

Winter is the king of showmen,
Turning tree stumps into snow men
And houses into birthday cakes
And spreading sugar over lakes.
Smooth and clean and frosty white,
The world looks good enough to bite.
That’s the season to be young,
Catching snowflakes on your tongue!
Snow is snowy when it’s snowing.
I’m sorry it’s slushy when it’s going.

The rest of the leaves have left the trees in my phenology spot. The only sight of green in my location is some very persistent ferns growing on the hillside that show no signs of going anywhere any time soon.

Overall I would say that there is an increase in the amount decomposition of the leaf litter on the ground, the leaves do not look as though the have just fallen off of the trees. I did spot a sign of decomposers in the form of worms in the mud closer to the stream.

Other then the worms I saw and heard a few different species of birds, one of which I think was a chickadee. That is an increase in animal behavior for my location as previously I have only seen one or two birds during my visits to my phenology location. One final thing that I took note of was that the stream is still flowing. I am wondering if it will freeze over at any point during the winter.

Thanksgiving Break Phenology Location

My chosen phenology location for Thanksgiving break was located in Harpswell, Maine on Orr’s Island at 43º47’30.1″N 69º57’26.1″W

This location differs greatly from my location in Centennial Woods. The composition of the forest in the new location was almost entirely red spruce and balsam fir trees whereas my location in Centennial Woods has a greater species diversity. There was minimal leafy vegetation (such as ferns, like in Centennial Woods) on the forest floor, this is most likely due to the large population of deer in the area. There were also large amounts of down trees and sticks all over the forest floor.

It is also a lot quieter than my Centennial Woods location. I can’t hear any people in the woods with me or the noise from the city nearby here. In this spot it is just me and the woods on an island in Maine, the way that it has been my whole life. I could feel the cool coastal air and smell the salty tang of the ocean.

I did not see any animals in this exact location but I did see some deer on the drive in maybe a mile from the location. It was also evident that deer live in this area due to the lack of vegetation on the forest floor. According to my dad who works at the nearby Schiller Coastal Studies Center, there have been lots of deer around the area this fall.

I was unable to partake in “response to honorable harvest” portion of the assignment because to the best of my knowledge the area I was in follows a “leave no trace” philosophy and I did not want to leave anything there that did not belong in those woods.

As I sit in my phenology spot I can smell the crisp fall air that has settled over Burlington. I saw a bird fly through and land on the beech tree near the stream bank for a few minutes. I can hear the stream flowing by me and in the distance I can hear the dog that I hiked past barking at something.

There has not been much change to my phenology location since my last visit. The only visible change is that the deciduous trees in the area have lost most of their leaves and there was and increase amount of leaf litter covering the forest floor.