A UVM blog Cameil's Phenology Blog

3/6 post

By Cameil Nelson

I went to Centennial Woods and found a yellow birch!! My siting of the yellow birch took place after the poison ivy sign and before the first wooden bridge. The sun was out and the lighting was nice, so I took a picture of the surrounding eastern white pines that the yellow birch is by. The small trees surrounding the larger ones were buckthorns and black cherries.

Betula alleghaniensis – yellow birch <3
A couple twigs are low enough for me to look at them in full detail and seemed to be new on the tree. The twigs have little white round bumps. The buds were brown and not yet in bloom.

I found a few paper birches on my exploration for trees. They sometimes are mistaken for paper birches. Featured below is a comparison list of paper birches vs. yellow birches

Paper birch:

  • white bark with a pink underside
  • wide and thick black spots when peeling occurs

Yellow birch:

  • yellowish-bronze
  • peels in thin ringlets
Skip to toolbar