Burlington Country Club, Burlington, VT
I chose the Burlington Country Club as my new phenology spot because it is open in the winter and there aren’t too many people there. You can get there from UVM by walking South past Patrick Gym and onto the golf course. I chose a pond at the south end of the golf course.
There are many species of plant and animal on the golf course. Some of these species are the Eastern White Pine, Hemlock, Sugar Maple, Beech, and Yellow & White Birch Trees. I have also seen deer, rabbit, many squirrels, and a skunk on the golf course.
Here is a deer track from the golf course, along with some deer scat. I tracked this deer for a short distance and it wandered around the woods of the golf course eating pine cones and pooping often.
Phenology Blog #2 2/18/24
Wildlife in Burlington: I went to Centennial Woods with a few of my friends and walked around looking for tracks. I found many dog tracks, as well as some deer tracks in the woods. At a stream running under the path we saw mud with a lot of dog and human footprints in it, as well as squirrel and deer tracks nearby. We also attempted to track a white footed mouse that traveled along the stream and stopped to eat some pinecones.
I made an iNaturalist post determining that it was a white footed mouse. I at first thought it could have been a deer track, but it was not split down the middle like hooves and there was only one jumping track, which aligns with the track a mouse would make. iNaturalist was very easy to use to track wildlife that I see and footprints of wildlife.
Phenology Blog 3: Original Spot
I returned to the golf course as the snow from the most recent snow had begun to melt and walked around the pond on the golf course. The ice on the pond was melting quickly and it was clear that spring is here. I heard and saw many birds, the most common being a crow, of which I saw three fly overhead while I was walking out of the woods. I also saw a few squirrels running around in the woods that lead up to the pond. I believe I saw a woodpecker as well on one of the maple trees. I looked at a few of the buds of the smaller trees but I couldn’t tell if the trees were really budding yet. They looked ready to bud though, as most of the twigs had buds forming on them. I saw a lot of squirrel tracks as well as some small bird tracks. I believe I also saw some more mice tracks. I didn’t see any tracks in the mud or signs of amphibians, but I am sure the golf course pond will be a very popular spot for frogs as soon as everything thaws out fully.
Phenology Blog 4: Final Blog 5/5/24
I returned to the woods in the golf course on May 2nd to take more pictures and determine how much the landscape had changed since it warmed up. There was no longer any snow and ice and some of the trees had started budding. Some of the path had eroded, but I had become familiar with the landmarks of the trail, such as a group of birch trees on the side and a specific turn that led towards a pond on the golf course.
These are the Birch trees on the side of the trail.
Nature and culture intertwine on this golf course because the humans who work and play on this golf course are constantly interacting with it to maintain the well-being of plants and the small forest inside, as well as maintain the course for its patrons. I would consider myself a part of my place because of all the time I have spent wandering the woods and the amount of time I have spent in the winter, even skating on the pond inside the course.