A UVM blog Centennial Woods Creek Blog

For this assignment, my friends and I went to the trails by Rockpoint, where we visited for a lab last semester. We parked by the school and walked down the trail and there was a decent amount of snow on the ground. There were a lot of dog tracks and pee, but we also saw/heard a few birds. I remember seeing black capped chickadees and a woodpecker. We also saw a few people Nordic skiing and walking their dogs.

These tracks probably belong to some kind of rabbit or hare.

I think the tracks in the picture below are from a squirrel since they lead up a tree

I got to go home over Thanksgiving break to Massachusetts. The new spot I picked is behind my house in the woods, close to a state forest. I picked this spot because it was pretty different to my spot in Vermont. It is in a marshy, muddy area with a lot of dead skinny trees shown below. Behind them are evergreens. The spot in Burlington is by a shallow stream and has lots of tall bushy vegetation around it. The vegetation here is sparser, and the tall grasses are now brown and dead.

Location:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/73itqAiiwAjZvhRR6?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

This week I sat at my spot for fifteen minutes and noted my observations. I went on Sunday, November 4th on a cloudy day. When sitting I heard a few birds like crows and saw some chickadees. There were lots of dead leaves on the ground and a lot of the smaller plants have started dying. There was a lot less greenery.

Welcome to my first blog post on my phenology spot in Centennial Woods.  To get there, walk past the Medical Center and towards the UVM police station. The entrance to the woods is on the left, and to get to my spot, follow the trail, over a few wooden bridges until you reach the stream. Follow it several meters until you reach a flat clearing, where it passes through. I chose this location because of its easy access and variety of woody species. I also enjoy looking for minnows and other species in and around the water.

Vegetation

Multiflora Roses- A dense species of multi-stemmed, thorny shrub that can grow 10-15 feet and is listed on Vermont’s unofficial invasive plant list

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/246372811

Eastern White Pine- Fast-growing, medium-sized tree with feathery pine needles.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/246372747

Slippery Jacks- fungi associated with trees in the pine family, found in temperate locations

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/246372827

Yellow Birch- large, usually a single-stemmed tree with yellow-brown peeling bark

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/246372760

American Elm- medium-sized tree with a large canopy and alternate leaf pattern

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/246645483

Royal Ferns- species of deciduous fern that grows on the edge of streams

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/246372784