Elias Davis Phenology Blog

Things in Northern Vermont are changing rapidly. Not only are the grocery store shelves becoming barer every day, but changes in the environment are seemingly occurring overnight. The snow has largely been dismal this last month, the ski areas up north mostly closing due to COVID-19, but also likely due to the extreme lack in snowfall. This was a big bummer for all local skiers, that our season was getting cut short but still that the boot-able ski terrain was also going to suck regardless of the lifts. Accepting the end of the season and the end of winter, myself and many others are avidly awaiting the warm breezes and vibrant wildlife to return. However, March seems to be hanging in a sort of limbo. The last 3 weeks have seen next to no snowfall and plenty of rain. The sap is running, birds are chirping and it seems winter is over a month too soon. Then overnight the temps drop and 6″ of snow gets dropped in the foothills and 10-11″ on the mountain. Not only is this a shock to us skiers, but undoubtedly the wildlife returning on the promise of spring. This confusion will only last a short while when it warms up in the coming days, but this significant and sudden snowfall will trigger massive flooding soon enough. The owl that lives next to my house is back and regularly calling again, and I’ve spotted another owl while driving, along with a red-tailed hawk and its fresh chipmunk kill near my house. Once the snow melts and mud season gets into full swing the changes around the state will begin to happen even faster. I’m excited that I can take up new hobbies since I have so much more free time from the absence of classes, but also sad that I cannot see my friends from college or go skiing anymore. Vermont’s animals and its humans are in a place where winter isn’t fully gone, but spring isn’t close enough to allow for life to continue as it would. Tonight it started to rain, and I saw a couple frogs hopping around, I just hope they didnt come out too early an get hit by a delayed frost. I think spring is here to stay though.

At this point in the season, there was not as much activity as prior months. The animals of the area seemed to have hunkered down for the time being to stay warm during current snowstorms. One of the first signs of life that I saw upon entering the stand was the presence of deer. Throughout the plot, deer tracks meandered within the trees with seemingly less purpose than a deer traveling through the woods, and more like one that was scavenging. The ground has a solid base of snow on it covering all grass, so what is left to browse is the abundance of the understory. I could only find a couple sections where the deer had gnawed some twigs, and even though the undergrowth there is dense with shrubbery and vegetation, the overwhelming majority of that is buckthorn. Buckthorn is an invasive species that crowds out the rest of the understory. Contrary to the name, deer do not like to browse on buckthorn. However, a species that does eat buckthorn berries are birds, and they only consume it as a starvation food in winter when there is no other alternative. Judging by the presence of berries, the area had not yet been browsed. This suggests that the birds there are not at the point of turning to eat the berries. The only other clear sign of life that I observed was the multitude of burrows created by rodents burrowing into the subnivean zone. These holes were widespread, but they could be at risk due to the severe temperature fluctuations recently. It might be more difficult for certain species that rely on the subnivean zone to survive winters and hide from predators during times of food scarcity. Since I was 5, I can still remember and see the difference in snow quantity and change in average winter temperature compared to today. After some snow melts, the small intermittent creek was flowing slowly and had dissolved a path through the snowpack, signaling the rain earlier that day and the general melting from the past days.

On my walk to my phenology site, I went after dark around 5:30. Right as I approached the stand of my site, a red fox emerged from the trees and leisurely crossed the road. I shined my flashlight at it and it looked at me but seemed pretty used to human activity and didn’t care. It crossed the road and I followed it. Directly across the road from my phenology site where I had seen many squirrels and chipmunks was a bird feeder with a practical pile of seeds below it. This clearly connects the abundance of chipmunk and squirrels to the presence of a predator like a fox, even in this incredibly urban environment. I followed the fox to a thicket where I could see its eyes reflecting beneath, then it turned and went under a fence where I couldn’t follow it. I was really astounded to see a shy animal like a fox 5 minutes from Redstone campus. I have also seen deer multiple times on the golf course by my stand and easily found some tracks. The bud I found was a sugar maple bud. Since my last visit, there is a legitimate snowpack on the ground, and many animals are hidden away. The biggest difference is the lack of bird diversity. Where I used to see some finch and robins there are only crows and chickadees. However the bird feeder across the street seems to be very popular, and an easy source of food for the surrounding animals. This is likely a vital supplement of the animals in the stand since there is not a lot of biodiversity and most of the understory is crowded out by buckthorn. There are lots of large white oak which supply many acorns to the rodents.

In my town of Fairfax, Vermont, there are many historical areas that hold meaning. The town was founded in 1763 and has many remnants of the past. On example is mill brook, which cuts through the center of the village in town. Most of these buildings are well over 100 years old and center around this brook and where it feeds into the Lamoille River. On one of the winding banks of mill brook, amongst the many waterfalls, there is a large stone sitting out of place on the grass. It is cylindrical and stout and has a large hole in the center of the stone. This is an abandoned millstone, and when the mill was no longer of use. The wooden supports and platform that stood on the bank have since rotted away, and all that remains is a significant cut in the stony bank where a building might have sat, and a large wheel of stone further down the hill. This really gives a sense of what the town was like, where all the buildings are heavily clustered around the mill, and near the mouth of where the brook meets the Lamoille. Up the river a mile, there is an excavation site for native American artifacts. Humans have always settled nears rivers for food and fresh water, so it makes sense the way almost all towns in Vermont have a river running through or near them. Since coming to UVM, I learned a lot more about the sandy areas of Fairfax and how they were dredged up by glaciers and at some point, were the shores of lake Vermont. Something since leaving for college is the dramatic and fast changes happening to my town. It is quickly becoming more urban with cul-de-sacs popping up throughout town as more and more people move to Fairfax. Population growth is ok, and Fairfax is a prime location being 40 minutes from Burlington and the border. Fairfax has always had three convenience/gas station stores and one restaurant. But in the last few months, a Dollar General has popped up out of nowhere. Most of the community is outraged from it since it will detract from the sales of our local businesses and hardware store. But this is a part of the change that occurs in the transition from rural to urban areas. I have no doubt Fairfax will expand, but I don’t think that it will ever grow to the size of other American suburbs. This is Vermont, after all. But this sleepy town that I call home is changing, and with the introduction of chains and non-family run business, it changes the identity of Fairfax. For poorer people in the community who cannot afford to commute 20 minutes to the nearest supermarket or general store, this is a massive convenience, and many of the things found in Dollar General cannot be found anywhere else in the town. So it has its benefits, it is hideous, it is competing with local business, and it’s a sign of the changing times in Fairfax. The growth in young families moving in, and the expansion of the elementary school all signify it. These changes in the town’s environment make the town feel less rural and more like its neighbor Milton, though it is far from that level of development, we just added a new sidewalk, and that is a huge deal for the town, doubling the paths available. 

           In Fairfax, I am attached to the rural and cozy feeling I have always had from there. I feel that if the population expands too much that the friendly small-town attitude will shift into one where people care less about their interactions with others like in a city. You don’t mind honking at all the time at someone you will never see again, but everyone in Fairfax lives there, and likely knows you, so that small town small world feeling actually preserves the kind and patient to others attitude that I have grown up with and enjoy seeing every time I go back. My biggest fear for my town is that it will disappear. Development is natural and good for the local economy, but I enjoy having a place separate from the chores and stores. I wouldn’t want to be surrounded by the flow of people coming into our town to go to some new box store. Our town has one road that runs through it, and there is an intersection with a single blinking light. If there were significant traffic through Fairfax, the local infrastructure in the village would need to be completely redesigned, and it would alter the town’s historic houses entirely. One of the oldest buildings (an old general store) already was demolished because it caused a blind spot coming out of a road that should have been a one way anyways. Also, our fire department and rescue team are small, underfunded, and can barely handle operating on the town itself. We don’t even have a police presence. One cruiser from Saint Albans comes over and patrols for half an hour then leaves. 

My location to the side of the golf course has a strange sense of place. It is historical in the way that the Burlington country club has been in existence for 95 years, being established in 1924. Around the course, it is mostly cleared of trees to make way for golfing fields. Yet here are a sprinkled choice tree that was either left untouched or planted. These scattered trees have become towering sentinels of the area, starkly contrasting to the overgrown twiggy stand that I chose as my spot. Yet in this small plot, there are still some very large white oak and white ash trees that stand stark in contrast to the rest of the growth. These looming trees sprinkled amongst the much younger seem like they have watched the landscape transform and hold memories of the changing city. This strip has undergone a massive amount of turmoil in the last 300 years, being undeveloped land for thousands of years, to steadily being settled; the woods getting deforested and concrete abominations shooting up, not to mention poisons filling the soil. This area has finally been untouched for long enough that the plants have been able to grow uninterrupted.
This area feels forgotten. Forgotten by the golf club that borders it, by the sidewalks, roads, and residential areas that border it. It is a grey area that is instantly looked over by people that pass by. After all, it is a relatively insignificant strip of wood, holding little value other than to the animals that take shelter within. However, this can also be a place of discovery. For kids that get out of school and don’t have easy access to nature, this plot is a window into the woods (as long as you can get past the traffic noise). Here I found a carefully constructed shelter of branches, haphazardly balanced to make a dome. In this quiet area, the woods can be a catalyst for the imagination and allow the creativity that exists in everyone to run rampant. It is so essential for people to get back to nature and spend time being present, which has become a rare occurrence in our technological age. My place is becoming a shelter for wildlife, flora, and exploration. Though it’s primarily unthought-of amongst the community and country club; by allowing growth uninhibited has allowed for the early sprouting of a forest. Though a small example, places like this are relatively standard in Burlington, unmaintained and small patches of young stands that are developing Burlington into a more diverse area by providing shelter for some tolerant species.
Also, while exploring my site, I noticed a small intermittent and dried-up stream. Its exposed bedrock that was just a few inches from the surface, and it cut through the stand drastically. I followed it to the edge of the plot, where it stemmed from a culvert direction water from the road and sidewalks into the wooded area. I couldn’t imagine what sorts of chemical/ toxins were directed into this area, and there was a heavy flow from the surroundings as it cut entirely through the woods. I noticed a specific type of plant growing into almost a tunnel around the creek, likely thriving on the contaminated water. The thing that I immediately noted once I got to my plot was the immense amount of buckthorn everywhere. I hadn’t noticed it before with the rest of the green and yellows in the area, but with all reaming color gone and a dusting of white snow, the standalone green of the buckthorn was notable. It was the only thing that remained green this late in the season, all other shrubs, trees, and bushes had all lost their leaves at this point. With the canopy of leaves primarily gone, I imagine the chlorophyll remaining in the buckthorn made it possible to capitalize on this brief sun exposure with winter soon arriving. I noticed pileated woodpecker holes in a pine tree. In the book, naturally curious, I learned that these holes are likely from the bird trying to find carpenter ants that reside in the heartwood of the tree and that these holes often become a shelter for white-footed deer mice. Plus, an American hophornbeam that had suspicious markings possibly a deer rub from the deer I saw on the course a few weeks prior.

Shelter

This visit to my spot by the golf course came after a torrential downpour the night before. The wind speed was incredibly high and had broken a few branches. The foliage is no longer hues of red-orange and yellow, but mainly brown and the leaves that cling to the branches, do so feebly. In this little spot of vegetation, the ground is now completely covered in a thick muffling layer of leaf litter. These leaves will decompose over the winter and slowly add to the soil layered beneath. The mushroom season is past peak and on dead logs and stumps, there are dead blackened specimens of mushrooms scattered among the rotting trees. On these, I found a slug and saw a chipmunk (Tamias striatus) scamper across. A squirrel was drying out in a tree, and the squirrel nests were now visible in the trees without the leaves. The small hemlock near my spot had a moth taking shelter on its trunk. There were a few crows perched in the bare branches aswell and a wooly bear (Isabella Tiger Moth). I saw some rabbit scat and there is likely a burrow somewhere in the area for a rabbit as it prepares for the winter. The land in this spot it relatively flat and the edge between the sidewalk and the vegetation had standing water, likely due to the immense amount of impervious asphalt and concrete around the plot. The main impact that this area has on me is the inevitability of forest reclamation. That even when we deforest an area and surround it with non-ideal conditions plants always will invade again and begin life anew. This reforestation took place in the span of under 150 years and some hand-planted trees paired with not maintaining the area allows for life to sprout and transform the landscape within a century. Also by observing animal life, all animals are making their final desperate preparations to stock as much food and nutrients before hibernation and the winter sets in. I think that I only saw crows in the area since they have best adapted to living in the city along with pigeons and seagulls. I didn’t see any blue-jays, chickadees or a variety of birds. This could also have to do with the different stages in migration that birds are currently in.

 This place is a patch of woods just off a golf course called the Burlington Country Club. This is particular patch is just behind the WDW complex and off of south prospect street. Once you get to Country Club Rd, there is a sign, the road, and then a patch of woods. If you walk up to the edge, there is a gap where a chainlink fence starts, and you can walk into the densely wooded area. It is an unmaintained and wild-growing patch right off of a road, yet I saw a deer wandering the golf course next to it just last week! It was evidently deforested many decades ago, and as a natural barrier, white pines were planted in a row along the road, which has since grown massive. Though once in the middle, the undergrowth is so dense that you cannot see the edges, this is not entirely an immersive spot. The noise of the cars and the caddies are ever-present, though it’s off a reasonably quiet Burlington road. This place seems like a glimpse into what the area could potentially be if left unattended. This patch has been left and shows what happens when the area is allowed to grow. It has become a slice of woods with a canopy and a dense understory. This area is an excellent example of the forest reclaiming and reestablishing itself. This plot is also very biodiverse with many smaller hardwoods and shrubs growing in the understory, just waiting for some canopy space to open up. This plot is a testament to the inevitability of the forest reclaiming land and prospering. You will know when you are in the right spot if you reach a large dead pine with large mushrooms growing out of the side of it. Just on the other side of that dead tree, the roads are no longer visible through the dense foliage. At this point, you will get a slight feeling of what it is like to be in a densely forested area, and then the squealing breaks of some rusted Carolla, or an ambulance siren will interrupt any form of quiet in the plot.