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!