Sunny Hollow Natural Area has changed a lot since October from the fallen leaves to the icy conditions. Winding through the hiking trails was difficult to say the least in the snowy conditions. The only leaves that have managed to hold on this long are on young American Beech trees which surprisingly have a few very brown leaves. Other than that the only green in the canopy comes from the Eastern White Pines which are plentiful and vary in maturity. Another plentiful species was fungus. I found mushrooms of varying types on fallen sticks and even a particularly magnificent Paper Birch. Some were more squishy and others very hardened and their coloring varied from orange to a dark brown. Since seeing moss on trees is such a rarity in the Northeast I appreciate every little fungus that I notice on trees
Since the ground was covered in an inch or two of snow there were plenty of tracks along the trails and at my spot. However most of these were human or dog tracks. This is not unexpected considering that my spot is located within a public park along a managed trail. While I was walking I payed particular attention to any tracks that stood out to me. I can’t say with certainty that any of them were wild animals but nonetheless it was interesting to see the differences in paw size and nail length and how that contributed to the look of the track. It is also always heartwarming to see the amount of use that this urban natural area gets. I consistently have seen people out with their dogs and even their mountain bikes along these trails.
