For this semester, I chose a new phenology spot in Centennial Woods. I chose the Eastern Hemlock stand along the trail as my center point. Today, it was only 2 degrees with strong winds, but the trees provided some relief from the cold. The only green left in the woods was on the hemlocks and Eastern White Pines, everything else was missing its leaves. Along my walk to the hemlock clearing, I saw a group of American Robins in the trees. I also heard a woodpecker and saw the evidence of its feast in the snow.
Animal tracks were hard to find on this trip. There hasn’t been much fresh snow lately, and the strong winds probably don’t help. Nonetheless I was able to find some evidence of wildlife in this frozen forest. The first set I found was from a mouse, made obvious by the tail marks in between the tracks. At the edge of the hemlock stand closer to the brook, I found what I think are tracks from a snowshoe hare. It could be another small mammal since the outline of each footprint was blurred, but the space between them and the arrangement made me think it was a hare or rabbit of some kind.
