On this warm, sunny May day, my site in Centennial Woods is the greenest I’ve seen since early last fall. The yellow birches, red maples, and small bushy plants like barberry are fully leafed out. The understory is beginning to come in as well, with all of the fiddleheads nearly unfurled. The wetlands as well …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
City Nature Challenge!
5/3/21 On Saturday, the second day of the BioBlitz, I logged species while walking around the Waterfront and up to the UVM campus. On Sunday, I spent a few hours tromping around Centennial Woods, and documenting small plants, one mammal, one insect, and one fungus. My most memorable observations were Pinewood Gingertail and a Dunning’s …
April Phenology
Over the past month things have really been springing into action at my phenology site. The eastern white pines and eastern hemlocks which dominate my site still look more or less the same, but the surrounding area is full of budding shrubs and trees, such as yellow birch and barberry. The wetland has water again, …
March Phenology of Burlington
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 …
Tracks and Scat
2/7/21 The last time I visited my site there wasn’t any snow on the ground, but today there was a white blanket that revealed lots of wildlife activity I would have otherwise missed completely. Other than the snow, my site has not changed that drastically, seeing as most of the trees are coniferous and the …
Human History on My Site
12/03/20 Before settlers arrived in Vermont, Centennial Woods was not called Centennial Woods. It was Abenaki land, so there is no way of knowing exactly what it was used for, but we can be sure that they had very different land use practices than the settlers. Practices that involved farming and hunting without clear cutting …
My New Phenology Site In Montpelier
11/29/20 Weather: 40˚F and sunny My new phenology site is at my aunt and uncle’s house in Montpelier, where I am staying over break. The spot I chose is on the edge of a man-made pond, and a forest that is primarily American beech, as well as striped maple, red maple, paper birch, and a …
Event Map of My Visit
11/8/20 Today I visited my site pretty late in the evening, and I got to watch the clouds turn pink through the red maple trees to the West. It is wild to think that the sun now sets at 4:30. It feels like winter is coming fast, and yet today was 70˚! The yellow birches …
Phenology Site, From Above!
10/25/20 Today, October 25th, was a pretty chilly day. It was partly cloudy and was around 41˚F when I was at my site at 5:00pm. Many of the leaves are still on the trees in Centennial Woods. Most of them are yellow, some are orangey-red, and a few are still green. Many of the leaves …
Introduction To My Phenology Site
Hemlock Forest – 10/11/20 To get to my phenology site, you have to walk into Centennial Woods and take trails that are trending to the North until you get to a trail which follows the forest edge, by the side of a wetland meadow. My site is located in a clearing surrounded by hemlocks. If …