This semester I decided to go back to my same phenology spot from last semester within Centennial Woods.
To my surprise, there haven’t been many changes since the last time I have been to my spot. The ferns that once covered the entirety of the ground were still present from since my first visit to this spot, however, this time, they were just covered with ice and snow. But beneath this thin layer of snow these ferns were still bright green and full of life. In fact, these ferns were one of the only bright green pigments I saw throughout my time at my spot on this snowy January day.
One observation I did make however about the changes within this area was a lot more of the trees have had their leaves fallen. Last time I was at this spot, majority of the tree’s leaves have fallen, except for the conifers. This time however, even the conifers had only about a third of their needles left.
Additionally, there seemed to be more moss growth on logs, since the last time I have been here. Now the moss is completely covering the fallen logs, along with snow covering the moss.
The area seems to appear less dense as there were about 1-2 more trees that have fallen and now almost all of the leaves off the trees have fallen.
The animal tracks within my spot were very anticlimactic. The only prints I saw were a lot of deer prints. One pattern I did notice was that all of the hoof tracks from the deer came from up over the hill, moving toward the frozen lake outside of my area. Instead, my phenology spot seemed to be the area of transition where critters moved through rather than stayed for the winter. This is because, just outside of my phenology spot I found several other prints, ranging from bunnies, voles, more deer, and birds. My hypothesis for this is that there seems to not be a lot of snow accumulated in my phenology spot at the time I was there. The areas that had more tracks were covered in deeper snow pockets or hay covered in snow, giving an insulated place for these critters to hide away and tunnel throughout the winter.
