A UVM blog Conor Moses Phenology

This was my last phenology visit of the semester. Many things have changed over the course of the year, and my site is starting to look more like it did when I first visited in the fall. Leaves are growing on the trees and birds have started chirping more again.

The forest floor is littered with debris knocked down in winter storms, and woodpeckers are pecking at rotting trees while song sparrows chirping and play beside the stream.

I’ve gotten into birding more through the course of the year. Every time I go for a walk I’ll open up eBird and make a game out of how many species I can identify. Currently I have 31, which isn’t a lot but I’m excited to see how many I can get by the time fall comes around.

This forest is nestled in one of the more populous areas of Vermont. Even still it allows people to get outside and be surrounded with nature. As the birds tune out the distant noise of traffic, people are able to connect with the world around us in a very vital way.

I feel as though I have become a part of this space through the course of the semester. I know where some birds nest, and notice when certain trees have fallen or when something is out of place. When I need to clear my head I know that I can go out there and feel at peace, no matter the weather. It has also served as a place for me to go out with friends and bond over our love of the natural world. It’s sad to leave just as the weather is getting nicer but I’m excited to return in the fall and see how things have changed. I may continue these posts/entries next year, I’ve really enjoyed them.

This week was the City Nature Challenge, a global competition to see who can identify the most species, but mostly just to encourage people to get outdoors and into nature.

On Saturday I had a track meet down at UMass Amherst and was unable to participate in the City Nature Challenge. Despite this, I went birding for around 45 minutes after I had competed and I had some really fun finds. Being further south of Burlington I was able to see some really cool species. The most interesting I feel was a black vulture that I saw soaring overhead. This species isn’t as common in New England which made me really excited to have seen one.

This Sunday I went on a walk in Centennial with two of my friends to go and look at different species. We ended up staying in the woods for around three hours, observing a wide range of species in different locations. Throughout the day I was able to identify 38 species of plants, animals, and insects. I brought my camera along with me so I was able to take some really cool photos of some of the birds that we saw along the way.

I’m disappointed that the year is coming to an end but at the same time I’m really excited for trees to really open their leaves in the next month.

Last week was spent back home in Massachusetts. I am lucky enough to live right next to a parcel of land that was part of a conservation project started over 130 years ago. One day I went out for a walk down by the Merrimack River that runs alongside this land. I took the same trail that I had taken since my family first moved to the area in ’06. The woods are not unlike my spot in centennial. The forest is similar, and a familiar brook runs its way through. As I walked down the trail, the forest changes. It starts as a predominantly hard wood forest, and then suddenly switched to evergreens. Two tall hemlocks rose up from the trail in between. Soon after is a beech forest. In the fall the trees and floor is full of yellow leaves. As you walk further the forest is once again replaced by a primarily red oak and white pine canopy, which is common in the area.

Two large Hemlocks grew up from the trail. For hundreds of years these trees grew up towards the sun together. The tree on the river-side is growing strong, with green needles casting shade on the forest floor. The other tree has no needles left. For so long these two grew together, but only one is continuing to grow. In the future, only one tree will still stand, as their partner once again returns to the soil.

During the long weekend my family took me to Stowe so I was unable to walk around Burlington. I noticed a lot of tracks all around where we were staying, as well as on the mountain.

I followed a set of tracks for a good while, the fresh layer of snow helped by giving a wide canvas for animals to track through. I was confused about these pictures for a while before realizing that they were probably just left by a cat. I suppose outdoor cats still play a part in phenology even if they are domesticated with the amount of rodents and birds that they can kill.

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Up at the mountain I was able to spot a vey cool print left behind by some sort of squirrel. I think this is a red squirrel because of the coniferous forest and the fact that my brother saw one around 20 feet away.

Next tracks I found were still squirrels but this time grey squirrels most likely.

I have no idea what kind of bird made these last tracks but it was definitely a lot of them. I find it so cool how the snow beneath this crabapple tree is absolutely covered in tracks

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This was a really cool experience tracking especially after our lab a few weeks ago. I hope to continue to learn more about tracking and different animals in the area. I also would like to look into identifying bird species by their tracks, I don’t know how possible that is but I think it would be cool.

I have used iNaturalist in the past and have always had a positive experience using it. I first got it in high school for my environmental science class and it has helped me make a good amount of observations over the years.

I’ll try to get out into Burlington in the next couple days to make some more observations.

Centennial Woods

1.23.22

19 degrees and snowy

This was my first time visiting my site since winter break as well as my first time visiting with any significant snow on the ground. As I was at the edge of the woods I noticed a large flock of crows flying overhead. The trail walking in is packed down from other hikers and tracks were muddled from the freshly fallen inch of snow. As I made my way to the site I noticed that the brook was now completely covered in snow and ice, leaving only the suggestion of a stream.

Centennial Woods

12.8.21

28 degrees and flurries

Wednesday was my last day visiting my site for the semester. This time I had the opportunity to see a layer of snow covering the landscape. Everything looked very empty compared to my first visit. All of the deciduous trees had lost their foliage except for a few red oaks who still had some brown leaves hanging on. This was a great opportunity to observe tracks in the snow left by mostly small animals and birds which I was not able to identify. If anyone can please let me know, I’ll add pictures.

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My site went through a large change since my last visit with the falling of a large white pine tree. This tree had been a part of the landscape for a long time and its falling only changes its role in the ecosystem.

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Right next to this large, newly down tree, I noticed a very small white pine poking out of a nurse log. It’s amazing to see new life sprout in the place of old life. This is one of the most amazing things about nature and it was very cool to see.

Although this is my last posting for the semester, I hope to continue to go out to my site and visit from time to time. I feel like things like this are a great way of connecting with nature and we could all use a little more of that.

This week as I walked to the track for practice in the morning I was able to take in everything that I saw along the way from CCRH to the fieldhouse. I like these morning walks, they give me a time to wake up and enjoy the sounds before a lot of people get out of bed.

Centennial woods

10.31.21

Rainy

I once again visited my site in Centennial Woods. Despite it being Halloween I witnessed no ghosts or whatnot in the woods, just a lot of puddles. I walked down to my site where I sat for about 15 minutes for a sit spot. It is a very peaceful spot, nestled in, further than some people tend to go on the slope of a slight hill. The water was noticeably higher this visit, fueled by this weekends rain. I noticed that more of the trees on the other side of the brook had lost their leaves and there was some more color. I was sitting under a lot of pines and hemlocks so there wasn’t so much of a change right above me.

I can’t wait to get back out to my site as the season progresses and we eventually get some snow.

Get Outside!