Place Based Phenology Project

Over spring break the phenology spot I chose was in my backyard in Middlebury Vermont. The Area used to be a sheep farm, this is evident through the relatively young forest and the old stone walls way back into the woods. The woods in my backyard are predominantly made up of white pines but we do have a few scattered sugar maples and I was able to find a couple birches and a red maple near the edge. It was hard to see if there were any animal tracks as my dogs have done a pretty good job tearing up the woods leaving a ton of tracks and scaring everything off. I was able to find a couple squirrel tracks and what I think may have been a rabbit track but it looked pretty old. This is a very different area than my phenology spot in Burlington. The most glaring difference was that there was no lake in my backyard. Secondly, the ground was a lot more solid than the rocky material of the peninsula. Lastly, there are certainly more animals living in my woods than on my peninsula and the trees and plants are a lot denser in my woods.