A UVM blog Carly Nestor's Phenology Blog!

Today, I am writing my final blog for the semester—so bittersweet! For this last assignment, I revisited my phenology site to observe how things have changed. The last time I was in Centennial Woods, I was recovering from the flu (yuck), and there was lots of snow and ice on the path, which made my journey to my spot slightly more tricky than it should’ve been. This time, my visit was on a lovely day with beautiful weather. It felt so peaceful and extremely nostalgic to be back in the same woods where I did my very first NR1010 lab.

The hill I had to climb once I left the main path was the most memorable part of reaching my exact spot. I remember trudging uphill through deep snow at the beginning of the semester, a sharp contrast to my most recent visit when I could walk up with ease. The change in seasons made the same hill feel like two entirely different experiences, reminding me how much both the landscape and I have shifted over time. Early this semester, times were tough, and I feel like those experiences can be connected to the more difficult phenology visit in the icy cold conditions. Now, at the end of the semester, I feel like I’ve reached a place where I can see just how much I’ve changed. Not in a way that feels unfamiliar. It’s more like I’ve grown into who I’ve always been meant to be. 😉

Over the past few months, my phenology site has shown me how nature and culture connect. Although the area looks natural and quiet, there are signs of people everywhere, like paths, footprints, and the way I keep coming back to observe it. Watching the seasons change has helped me feel more connected to the land, and visiting the site has become something I really look forward to. The solitary walk through the woods helps me collect my thoughts and reflect on things that I often brush aside as unimportant. I’ve always loved taking walks by myself at home, and these assignments have allowed me to bring that familiar element into my studies.

To wrap up this blog, I just want to say that I really do feel like I’ve become part of my phenology site. No matter where I am, I’ve always felt connected to the woods, and after spending so much time here, this spot feels personal now. It reminds me of the woods behind my house where I’ve taken so many walks. It’s become a place where I feel calm, grounded, and like I belong.

Goodbye, NR1020! :’)

Hello again! This past weekend, I participated in the four-day urban BioBlitz around Greater Burlington, and it was a lot of fun! I spent time with my friend exploring places like the Intervale and some parts of Centennial Woods. It’s wild how many species are just out there if you actually take a second to look around and observe your surroundings.

Since I’ve become familiar with iNaturalist throughout these past two semesters, making observations was fairly simple. Seeing some green after a long, grey winter felt refreshing, and excited me even more for the summer. My favorite thing that I saw was the willow tree at the Intervale.

I ended up spotting and identifying 11 different species, including the common daffodil (which is pretty much everywhere right now on campus), ostrich fern, common mugwort, greater burdock, and great rhododendron. I also came across some cool ones like broomrape and red osier dogwood, which has these bright red stems that are hard to miss. Again, my favorite observation was the willow tree! I’ve been to the Intervale months ago for my first couple of Phenology Assignments before switching locations. I missed the beauty of its branches and how they move in the wind.

One of the coolest parts of the whole BioBlitz was watching reports roll in from cities all around the world on iNaturalist. It felt like I was part of this giant, global scavenger hunt for biodiversity. I saw posts from people in tropical countries who were uploading photos of these super vibrant birds with bright blue feathers, butterflies that looked like flying stained glass, and even some crazy, unique frogs. Meanwhile, I was here observing simpler and more common things. Even though I didn’t make the most exotic observations, it still feels very special to be a part of this global event.

This is my second-to-last post, so until next time!

Hello all, it’s been a while since my last post! For today’s phenology blog, I’ll be discussing my data collection for the class-wide NR1020 phenology walk. My assigned day for data collection was April 21st. Tomorrow is Earth Day and also my birthday, so I had a pretty joyous time taking a walk and observing the phenological changes happening here around campus, as it really got me in the mood to appreciate nature! The trees I observed today were part of UVM’s phenology site on Nature’s Notebook. The group of trees included a Red Oak, a Sugar Maple, a White Oak, a Red Maple, and a Norway Maple.

The weather was quite chilly, with pretty large wind gusts and cooler temperatures. It had rained just a tiny bit earlier in the day, so the conditions were kind of wet. One of the commonalities I noticed when observing the five trees is that they all have visible buds. However, not all of the buds have necessarily bloomed yet. Out of 5 trees, the Sugar Maple, Norway Maple, and Red Maple had blooming buds. The Red Maple had actually begun to flower! I’ll include a photo of that below.

Based on today’s observations, I can infer that the trees are not all in the same phenophase, but are on their way to blooming for the spring. While observing, I was wondering how the sporadic warm and cold weather has affected the blooming of these trees. It was definitely interesting to see how the Red Maple had already flowered while the other trees were hardly breaking buds. I thoroughly enjoyed being familiar enough with different types of buds that I could tell my friends which trees were which based on their budding patterns (always nice to flex my knowledge a little bit 💪).

For this assignment, I submitted my observation data on the USA National Phenology Network. After my submission, I took some time to explore the website and found some super cool resources that I will definitely reference in the future! Some of the cool features of NPN are its ‘Pheno Forecasts,’ which estimate when key species will reach important life cycle stages, helping guide agriculture and natural resource management. I have never really used a website like NPN besides iNaturalist, so it was really cool to navigate a new platform and get familiar with its tools 😎

Alright, that’s it for now. Until next time!

I walked through the Redstone Pines with my friend, both bundled up against the cold but missing our much-needed snow boots! The day we went out exploring just so happened to be the day after there ws fresh snowfall, so it was mildly difficult to find tracks right away. As we were searching, we heard this knocking noise. To our surprise (and delight), there was a Pileated Woodpecker getting down to business on one of the trees, leaving three neat holes in a row!

My friend and I stood there in the snow for what seemed like 10 minutes, slowly inching closer to the tree to get a closer look at what this bird was working on. When we got close enough, we were able to see the remnants of the bark that had been pecked at.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the woodpecker do its job, but it was time to find some actual tracks. So, my friend and I continued our perilous trek through the snow… until we came across these!

I believe these are deer tracks, but I could be mistaken. However, they looked very similar to deer tracks and were pretty big, so we knew it had to be a larger animal. It felt great to finally find some tracks after looking for so long with little to no luck. My friend and I still think that the woodpecker was good luck because we walked further in its direction after our gazing session was complete.

Until next time! 😛

Well, I hate to admit it, but choosing the Intervale Center as my phenology spot last semester was far too ambitious of a decision! I now know my limits and capabilities as a car-less individual, and I’ve chosen a new phenology spot in a much more convenient location… Centennial Woods 😉 Below is a screenshot of the general location I chose:

To get to this spot, I took a brisk 30 minute walk from Redstone campus to the entrance of Centennial Woods. After entering, I walked about 10 minutes down the path and over a couple wooden bridges until I came across a hill with a cluster of slightly curved trees. I think the walk from the entrance to my spot would’ve been quicker if the path wasn’t so icy… Anyways, below is a photo of my spot!

You have to believe me when I tell you that I wandered around the vicinity of my spot for at least 10 minutes trying to find some solid animals tracks and all I could come up with were these… they’re very faint but they’re there… TRUST ME!

Hopefully the next time I come back to visit my spot, I’ll know a lot more about the wildlife that reside in Centennial Woods and the tracks they leave behind. For now, I just know that these are some animal-like prints! Okay, bye! 😛

When I went back for my final visit at my phenology spot, I was met with a beautiful winter wonderland. Mostly all of the trees had lost their leaves except for the pine trees, as expected. The water was still flowing in the lake and the view was stunning. The ground was covered in snow, and there were surprisingly a lot of footprints in the snow. I guess some other people were appreciating the snowy view from the path as well!

I spotted some animal tracks in the snow—probably squirrels or maybe a deer. However, I couldn’t see any of the animals that could have made those tracks. I thoroughly enjoyed being outside in the elements, but the sounds of the flyover planes was still pretty distracting. In some spots on the path, there were some leaves visible underneath the snow, but there were few spots where I could really see which leaves were which species. I made my attempt to be all scientific and identify some leaves from the path, but they were honestly way too soggy and cold :/

What I loved most about completing my phenology posts was getting off campus and being outside in a beautiful place. What I loved most about doing my phenology posts was getting off campus and spending time outside in such a beautiful spot. It gave me a chance to slow down and notice things, like how the trees and animals changed over time. Being out there felt really peaceful and gave me a break from all the stress of school. Even when it was cold, it was always worth it to go. It’s cool to look back and see how the spot changed, but it always felt familiar and comforting. I hope that I go back and visit even after this project is over because I had such a nice experience.

The site I visited during Thanksgiving break was in my own back yard! Growing up, my family would always take walks through the woods in our backyard that lead to Baiting Brook and then eventually Callahan State Park. This year, I was a bit concerned for the health of the brook because of the drought Massachusetts experienced for the past 2 months. Thankfully, my hometown experienced some rain in the recent weeks, so things should be getting back to normal. The water levels were pretty low still, but I hope that with time the brook will return to a (relatively) healthy state.

My favorite thing I found while looking around this new phenology spot was a heart-shaped cluster of lichen on this tree. How adorable omg. I couldn’t believe how perfectly shaped it was! This was a perfect gift to me, so in return, I gathered as many rocks as I could find and placed them at the base of the tree in the shape of a heart. I hope that when I go back to visit this spot the hearts will still be there!

My experience back at my spot: When revisiting the trail discussed in my first post, there weren’t too many noticeable changes besides the abundance of maple leaves that had fallen onto the path. Honestly, the leaves made it difficult to navigate the trail, but the colors and view made up for my confusion. A lot of the small species of vegetation were still thriving with some leaves still attached, but it was clear that they were on their way to losing those as weather progressively gets colder (hopefully!). It was still pretty warm when I visited, around 45°-50° fahrenheit, and the weather was sunny but kind of windy (nothing I wasn’t used to).

While sitting, there were multiple flyovers of military planes. These flyovers happened one after another in about 5 minute increments. After growing a bit concerned over the military presence in the area, I did a bit of research on why these extremely loud planes were continuously flying over me. Well, turns out there is an Air Base located near my phenology spot! Without a doubt, these constant flyovers in and out of the base are a significant source of noise pollution. After this realization, I did notice that there were hardly any signs of wildlife in my spot except for the occasional woodpecker sighting.

Changes in vegetation: Besides the increase in fallen leaves on the path, there wasn’t a whole lot of changes compared to my last visit. I think this is due to the abnormally warm weather that we’ve been having even as we get closer to winter. Although I can’t deny the warm is weather is nice, it’s unusual for it to be this warm this late into fall… especially since we are in Vermont. When my parents went to UVM in the 90s, they would already be bundled up in layers and layers of warm clothes. Anyways, as for the shorter vegetation off the sides of the path, I noticed that they are starting to lose color and leaves. Alright, until next time!

The Intervale Center is a quiet, beautiful spot along the Winooski River in Burlington. It’s only about a 10-minute drive or bike ride from the UVM campus, which makes it a great escape when you need a break from classes. The area is a mix of farms, forests, and wetlands, with trails that are easy to walk and explore.

It’s easy to get to. You can drive and park nearby, or take the bike path that runs through Burlington, which passes right by the Intervale. 

What Grows at the Intervale?

The vegetation here is a mix of native plants and some that have been planted intentionally, like crops on the farms. Along the trails and river, you’ll see a lot of shrubs, trees, and wetland plants. The area feels wild in some spots, but it’s also well cared for.

Some of the most common woody plants I saw here include:

• Red Maple (Acer rubrum)
• Boxelder (Acer negundo)
• Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria)
• American Elm (Ulmus americana)
• Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)
• Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis)

The Intervale is a peaceful place to visit, and it’s cool to see how it combines nature and community farming! It’s perfect if you’re looking for a quiet walk or a chance to learn more about Vermont’s plants and ecosystems.