I started my walk outside of Harris Millis, and then met up with some friends on central campus. On central, I took pictures of many of the different trees, including white oak, eastern white pine, and silver maple. I didn’t see any animals other than bundled-up UVM students on the green. The snow was not conducive to animal tracking, as it was all packed down creating an icy layer on top that wouldn’t leave prints if an animal stepped on it. March weather means a lot of freezing and thawing, and since it hasn’t snowed in a while, this leaves behind an icy snowpack that doesn’t really break when you step on it. Most of the trees have no leaves, but there are a few, like the white oak, that have managed to hold on to them despite them being brown and dead. I’m not sure why some leaves don’t drop, but I’m sure they will sluff off once the new leaves begin to grow in spring. The eastern white pine, of course, still has its green needles. I stopped and looked at the unique silver maple buds, and it made me think of the tree slowly starting to prepare its leaves that will completely transform campus, all within those tiny buds.
After meeting with my friends we walked downtown. At this point the sun was starting to go down and it was about 20 degrees, so we were all thankful to be wearing hats and jackets. Downtown Burlington does not have a lot of snow, maybe in part because of the number of black roads and heat-absorbing surfaces. I didn’t see any animals out and about, but the people walking around were all hunched forward and moving quickly. This seems like typical human behavior during the winter months. There weren’t many clouds in the sky, but the ones that were there appeared smooth and stretched, suggesting that maybe it was windy up high. Looking back at these photos it is hard to believe it is supposed to get to 55 degrees this week!
