Happy Spring! Yesterday I made my last visit to Centennial Woods for the year. I was surprised and so excited to see how green everything was, and to hear hundreds of birds singing together. New life was everywhere, from emerging fiddleheads to baby Maples to reborn perennial grasses. The stream was flowing again after a …
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City Nature Challenge!
Over this past weekend, I participated in the City Nature Challenge bioblitz on iNaturalist. I explored the Intervale Center during their Spectacular Nature Celebration and found Painted Turtles, Bullfrog tadpoles, millipedes, Willow trees, and other fascinating species. I opted to walk to and from classes, the gym, and dining halls instead of taking the bus …
Florida Gulf Coast Phenology
Over spring break, I traveled to the southern Gulf Coast of Florida. I stayed at a friend’s house in Port Charlotte and together we went to a number of beautiful beaches, about an hour away each. This climate is warm and humid year-round, allowing for countless bright green, flowering, and leafy species to grow all …
On Sunday, February 20th, I took a break from exploring Centennial Woods and went down to Lake Champlain. I walked a little farther down the bike path from the waterfront park, near the skate park, and watched the sunset from a short dock. It was bitterly cold and violently windy, but wildlife signs and the …
First Visit of 2022
During my first visit back at Centennial Woods this year, I noticed a lot of changes in the landscape and many more signs of wildlife, as animal inhabitants leave their trace in the snow. The forest was quiet and felt smaller than before. There were no leaves to fill the space, so large expanses of …
Final Visit
My final visit to Centennial Woods was cold and snowy. I am not the biggest fan of the snow, nor do I often come prepared, so my best piece of advice for visiting this site in December is to wear a good coat, a warm hat, high quality gloves, and double layered socks. These woods …
Bartlett Arboretum- Comparison
Over Thanksgiving break, I visited the Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens in Stamford, Connecticut. I noticed several differences between the arboretum and Centennial Woods, but, being in a similar region of the country, there were also many similarities. The Bartlett Arboretum is a fairly small natural area with a “wetland walk” across a marsh, streams through …
On Saturday, I walked down to Church Street from Redstone campus. It was chilly and windy all day, and it started out fairly sunny but quickly became cloudy. Most of the trees had no leaves, but the larger Northern Red Oak trees tended to still have a lot. Squirrels ran by me holding acorns and …
Landscape Mapped
3 November 2021: There have been some major changes in Centennial Woods since my last visit on October 8th. Most notably, the weather was warm and summery the last time I went. This time, the temperature was around 40º F. Most trees had become bare, and the few that still had leaves were sparse and …