Phenology Place

A New Spot

November 28, 2022 by aschwa27

Hi guys! This week, during Thanksgiving break, my phenology assignment was to find a spot near my home and to observant the natural environment there. I am lucky enough to live in the woods, and so I choose to find a spot somewhere on the land where my family lives.

The spot I ended up choosing was very familiar to me. As a child, I spent countless hours in the woods by my house, participating in a variety of activities that ranged from climbing trees to building stick forts to seeing how far my brother and I could travel down the creek while catching crayfish. The spot I chose is right along that same creek, whose formal name is Slippery Rock Creek. My area is rather large, as I wanted to include both sides of the water. In total, I would estimate the area to have a diameter of about 15 meters. My new spot near my house is very different from my phenology spot in Burlington, mostly because it is a drastically different climate and also it is not by a large river that largely shapes the land. My new phenology spot is much less of a disturbed area than my phenology spot back at UVM.

Vegetation

Being right along a creek, lots of the plants in this new spot of mine thrive in moist soils, such as shagbark hickory, red osier dogwood, and calico aster. There are several invasive species in my area, as well, such as Japanese barberry, oriental bittersweet, and common buckthorn. Due to the time of year, the ground was mostly covered in leaves and other decaying debris, however I did document the few ground cover plants that managed to poke their way through. The overstory consisted mostly of black cherry, shagbark hickory, and quaking aspen. The understory is much more diverse, and consists of numerous plant types, including, but certainly not limited to, Japanese barberry, multiflora rosa, and American hophornbeam.

**Moss on a young American hophornbeam.**

Types of Woody Plants + Herbaceous Ground Cover

Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii)
Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata)
American hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana)
Intermediate wood fern (Dryopteris intermedia)
American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana)
Black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica)
Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus)
Common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica)
Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora)
Calico aster (Symphyotrichum lateriflorum)
Red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea)
Deertongue (Dichanthelium clandestinum)
Stout wood reed (Cinna arundinacea)
Purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus)
Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)
Chickweed (Stellaria media)
Black cherry (Prunus serotina)
Northern red oak (Quercus rubra)
Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides)
Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens)

Creatures!

I also spotted a few creatures or signs of them at my new phenology spot! There was some white-tailed deer scat (Odocoileus virginianus) and I also spotted a gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), but I unfortunately did not manage to get a photo of it. There was also one tree that was noticeably scraped up, and I believe that it is from a white-tailed deer who was likely either trying to mark their territory and keep another buck away from their home, as it is not antler shedding season for white-tailed deer yet. Throughout my time at my phenology spot on one of the days I visited it (11/22/2022), there was constant noise from many common grackles (Quiscalus quiscula), although I never actually saw any of them. In my opinion, common grackles have a very distinct call. I am very familiar with these birds as I have grown up around them. Several of my neighbors farm, and I would often hear them express their anger towards the grackles that frequently ate their corn. The final sign of animal life that I stumbled across during my time at my spot was a few decaying spongy oak apple galls. These are produced by gall wasps (Amphibolips confluenta) on scarlet, red, and black oaks. This makes sense considering there were a few towering red oaks in my phenology spot.

**Den in the base of a Northern red oak**

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11/07/2022

November 7, 2022 by aschwa27

Today, I managed to find some time to visit my phenology spot before it got dark. While I was not there for long, I did take some time to notice any changes. The changes that I observed in my phenology spot were all to be expected. The deciduous trees that have their roots in my spot are almost entirely bare of leaves, with the exception of a few silver maple leaves holding on just a little longer. As a result, there is much more leaf litter on the ground, and the previously abundant herbaceous ground cover is now much more sparse. The area was also much quieter, as there are far fewer birds, but I did see plenty of squirrels hurriedly scuttling around preparing for winter. Despite the heavy winds, none of the trees seemed to have undergone any drastic changes, although I cannot say the same for some other trees that I passed during my walk through the Intervale. I also took the time to draw a bird’s-eye view map of my phenology spot, which can be found on the About My Spot page of this blog.

After taking a bit to familiarize myself with any changes at my phenology spot, I opted to take some time to relax and enjoy nature. I climbed partially up one of the silver maples (it provides a wonderful spot to sit or lay down), and simply stayed there for a while, enjoying the sounds of nature and holding on tight every time a powerful gust of wind attempted to knock me off of my perch. During this time, I was surprised to see two birds flying near each other! At first, I was unsure of what they were doing, as they either seemed to be chasing or playing with each other. But, I identified the birds as a red-tailed hawk and a raven, so, given this information, it seems fairly safe to assume that the raven was attempting to chase the hawk out of its territory.

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10/14/2022

November 7, 2022 by aschwa27

Hi! This weekend, on Friday, October 14th (yes, this took me almost a month to finish writing), I took some time out of my day to visit my phenology spot. I did not end up at my spot until pretty late in the day, so I did not have long until dark. But, there was still plenty to observe and learn about! My primary purpose for this visit was to identify the various trees, woody plants, and herbaceous ground cover, but along the way I found plenty to observe.

Jewelweed

After only about an hour of identifying plants at my phenology spot, the sun had set. This did not deter my work, especially because I had a friend to shine a flashlight whenever it was needed. What I quickly discovered, though, was that tree and plant identification becomes significantly harder when it is dark out. It was during one of my slow-going identification processes that I discovered a welcome surprise. As I fumbled along the leaves of a plant, I quickly found myself recoiling at the feel of something distinctly alive jumping from the plant. My immediate thought was a bug of some sort, such as a spider or grasshopper, but upon closer inspection I instead realized that I was surrounded by jewelweed! Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), which is often commonly referred to as ‘touch-me-not’, is known for its rather creative seed-spreading strategy. When jewelweed flowers are ready to reproduce, their seed pods become so swollen with seeds that the slightest brush can cause them to explode, sending the outside of the pod curling back up into the plant and the seeds up to several feet away. Throughout the next hour, I was captivated by the jewelweed pods, and only left them due to my friend pretty much dragging me away.

Jewelweed is very prevalent in my phenology spot. It borders the entire side of my trail that is farther from the water, and is also found in a few of the small groves of trees throughout the area. Jewelweed prefers moist, shady areas, which seems to fit considering the impressive amount of jewelweed in my spot, which borders the Winooski River. The plant blooms in midsummer, and the flowers stay until a frost kills them which, for Vermont, seems to be pretty much anytime with no warning at all. Jewelweed flowers can be red-orange to yellow, both of which I have found in my phenology spot, although the yellow jewelweed (Impatiens pallida) seems to be more common. The plant is native to the area, and is a rather competitive plant, meaning that it can often successfully outcompete other plants, even the occasional invasive one.

Cool Creatures

During my nighttime escapade I also saw plenty of cool little critters! Although I am sure plenty went unnoticed, I saw a few slugs and even a snail! The slugs I saw and successfully identified were marsh slugs (Derocereas laeve), also known as brown slugs or meadow slugs, and they are apart of the Agriolimacidae family. The slug, like jewelweed, prefers moist, marshy areas and can be a variety of colors from yellowish to deep browns. The few I saw seemed to learn more towards a chestnut brown, although this could be slightly inaccurate since it was dark out. I also saw a frog, but was unfortunately not able to get a picture of it.

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The Landscape

October 17, 2022 by aschwa27

Vegetation

My phenology spot, being a part of the Intervale and alongside the Winooski river, is very much a disturbed site. In the past, the land that makes up the Intervale has been used as an informal junkyard, and before that the land was home to dairy farms that were far from practicing sustainable farming practices. The Winooski River, which borders my phenology spot, also brings along its own boatload of health issues. While the river helps foster new growth in the area, the river itself is not the healthiest. The Winooski River faces a handful of ecological issues, such as erosion, construction, and dozens of dangerous pathogens and pollutants. Because of this, my phenology spot has several species that thrive in disturbed spots, such as Pennsylvania smartweed, common cocklebur, and panicled aster. The large majority of trees in the overstory were silver maples, while the few that I documented in the understory were mostly green ash. My phenology area has a large amount of jewelweed throughout the area, and this provides the majority of the herbaceous ground cover.