Visiting home this week, I found a place to observe and compare to my spot in Centennial Woods. I live on the coast of Maine, so I picked a stretch of rocky coastline along Casco Bay as my spot. There are tide pools, an abundance of seaweed, shelves of jagged rock, and various items that have drifted in from the sea. Where the rocks meet dirt and grass, there are oak and maple trees, shrubs, and plenty of noisy squirrels and birds. Geese and seagulls fly over the bay, and seals pop out of the water occasionally. The tide pools house likely hundreds of periwinkles, mussels, and other small shellfish among the Knotted Wreck seaweed that is a staple on the Maine coast. This is very different from my spot in Burlington. While both have water as a key part of the area, the life and systems are extremely different. My spot at home is salt water instead of fresh, and that brings a very different set of wildlife and plant life with it. It sounds very different as well. Instead of a bubbly creek and chirping birds, I hear waves crashing gently and the squawks and honks of seagulls and geese.
