Phenology Blog

This week I made it out in the woods behind Trinity campus for a little refreshing break from studying for finals. I made my way out to to my beech tree that I’ve been keeping track of for a few weeks. Now that it’s spring there are many phenological changes happening in the woods. My little beech tree is finally flowering and opening up its leaves. I’ve been waiting for this to happen since the days started getting warmer earlier this year.

It has been rainy all week an it was just starting to sprinkle when I went out there. That’s my favorite time to be in the woods. I could almost feel the trees and vegetation around me breathing a sigh of re-leaf. There were a few signs of human activity in the woods when I went out there. I found some old cans and a trash bag which I collected.

This week I decided to make the most of the bleak and grey weather that I could, so I decided to go for a run down in Winooski. After a little while, I ended up going down to Salmon Hole to visit my original phenology spot. Much has changed phonologically over time. I watched the leaves turn and drop last fall and now I’m watching little green buds open up into the new year’s leaves. Most of the undergrowth hasn’t returned yet but it’s nice to see green starting to show itself in the trees after many months of grey and brown.

I’ve become familiar with and fond of salmon hole and its landmarks. You can hear the faint roar of the waterfall from the dam right across the river, and there’s a large log on the rocks that is perfect for sitting and watching the water move.

Culture and nature intersect here in the form of fishing. Salmon hole, named for the abundance of salmon that swim here is a great spot for fishing. I know at least five people on Trinity who come to salmon hole to pass the time while fishing. Like myself, I imagine that they feel like a part of the place. I’ve been there so many times now that the site feels a little bit like the river I swam in back at home in Thetford.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day today in Burlington. Sixty degrees and sunny with a slight breeze. The evening was even more gorgeous and I decided to take a walk in the woods after the sun set. I made it back to my beech tree and took a few nighttime photos of its development.

Not much has changed since I last went out to visit it. The buds appear to be the same length and are not growing. The only leaves on the tree are dead ones that have stayed on the branches throughout the winter. I think that’s quite the miracle!

I checked the other beech trees in the area to see if they were flowering but they were all in the same state as my tree. I guess we’ll have to wait a bit longer!

For my third phenology post, I took a hike in the woods behind Trinity Campus in search of a good tree bud specimen. I found a few good looking beech trees that had reachable buds. They are just off of the path that leads from Trinity Campus into the woods on the northern edge of the campus.

I’ve identified this specimen as an American beech and not a young maple due to its longer, sharply pointed buds, which are cylindrical and reddish brown in color. Maples tend to have rounder, squatter buds. Maples also have buds in pairs along a twig while American beech has alternating buds like the specimen I found behind Trinity. The buds are a reddish-brown color, which matches the description of an American beech bud.

It was a gorgeous day today and I’m glad I had another chance to get outside and enjoy the natural beauty found right outside of campus all around us.

In participation with the challenge set to the NR 2 students, I went out into the woods with a few friends in an attempt to observe any and all signs of wildlife. Some of my friends were lucky enough to snap a few pictures of a grey squirrel, or some tracks in the mud (there was no snow at the time of our little adventure). I managed to find some scat from what I originally thought was a black bear.

I originally posted the scat to iNaturalist as black bear feces but after some more careful observation and some cross examination by other naturalists on the platform I’ve determined that it is indeed dog poop. Ah well. Bear scat doesn’t have the same shape or texture as this scat that I found.

Being a ski bum every winter, this semester I decided to move my phenology spot to a backcountry skiing location near Bolton Valley ski area. For the past few weekends I’ve been skinning up to the spot and enjoying its beauty before ripping powder back down to the parking lot of the ski area.

To get to this area requires a little bit of backcountry effort. The climb begins at Bolton Valley’s nordic center which is right at the parking lot to the main lodge at Bolton. The route takes you up one of the adjacent mountains in the ridge that contains the main ski area as shown in the map below.

While up on the mountain I tried to keep an eye out for any signs of wildlife but it was hard to notice anything because we were constantly moving. The only time I noticed signs of wildlife was at the top of our climb as we were transitioning to head down the mountain by taking our skins off and putting on helmets. I noticed very small and light tracks in the snow which after some research have identified as mouse tracks. I don’t have the ability to distinguish species, however.

I’ve grown quite fond of my phenology site over the past few months. I’ve become more connected with a small part of the land around UVM campus, a place that I can go to just be. Watching it change over the seasonal transitions from late summer to fall to winter has been very rewarding. There are scarcely any leaves left on the trees now. Only the occasional hemlock and white pine still carry some semblance of the green of summer. Most of the leaves have been decomposed or are undergoing the process. The low temperatures have hardened the soft ground around the rocky outcrop so no tracks are visible.

I’m very thankful to have found a spot so close to campus where I can feel connected to the land as a part of it rather than just existing on it. I’ll make a point of coming back during the middle of the winter to see if some sections of the river freeze over. Maybe I’ll try my hand at ice fishing?

Traveling back home for Thanksgiving break I chose one of my old stomping grounds in high school, acorn hill. This spot is very special to me because it was the place where my friend group and I used to camp at during the summer. There is an old stone chimney that is all that is left of an old cabin that used to be up on the hill which burned down a few decades ago. I went back up there with some friends over break and camped overnight and made a fire in the chimney.

The phenology of Acorn Hill is actually quite similar to my spot at Salmon Hole in Winooski. There are numerous tall grasses and shrubs, including buckthorn and occasionally milkweed during the summer. Because of this, I’ve seen a few monarch butterflies while camping. There are many more oak trees at the top of Acorn Hill than at Salmon Hole, but both sites share populations of American beech and sugar maple. As a gift, my friends and I spent time doing a little trail work on the way up to the camping site and back the next morning. We moved fallen sticks and larger branches off of the trail that blocked or obstructed it.

It’s very quiet at Salmon Hole today. It’s nice to be able to put on a jacket and enjoy the crisp and fresh fall air. The smell of the water adds to the freshness. I don’t hear any birds singing, only the occasional car passing by on the road up the hill from my spot. Almost every day since I arrived on campus has been windy, or at the least slightly breezy but everything was perfectly still. The scene looked as if it were frozen in time, the static only broken by the slight rippling of the water down the rapids and the sound of traffic above me. Before I left, I went down to the water and swirled a couple fingers in the water. It was frigid, and the shock of the cold water heightened my senses. Perhaps a polar plunge is in order before I leave for winter break.

Salmon Hole has undergone much change since I saw it last. Most of the trees had transformed into their last vibrant display of color before withering and preparing for the cold winter months. A few red maple and white oak trees still held on to what leaves they could. Even the small shrubs have lost their leaves, and the milkweed is now gone. Everything is dull, quiet, and grey, silently beginning their long vigil though the winter.

Salmon Hole is a quiet section of the Winooski River just North of UVM’s Campus. To get there from Trinity Campus, just walk down the hill on Colchester Ave towards Winooski. Once you reach the first intersection, take a left and walk down that road for a few minutes until you find the Salmon Hole trailhead on your right. As its name infers, Salmon Hole is a good fishing spot due to it being a spawning ground for salmon and other species of fish.

This is a view of Salmon Hole from a small beach that can be found be following the bank of the river from the left of the trail that initially leads you down to the hole. Common trees around this area include the American Beech and Sugar Maple, as well as a few red maple trees. There are also smaller shrubs living among the rocky, including milkweed, and buckthorn.