Eli's Phenology

Here’s my final map sketch…. I tried to make it a little less cluttered than the first one 🙂

Outside of it’s phenology, the site hasn’t changed much this year. I think some of the dead trees I found during the first visit might have been cleared over winter break, but I may be wrong. The creek has waxed and waned over the course of the year, with the increases and decreases in water as the snow freezes and thaws, but it hasn’t changed much fundamentally.

The most prevalent landmark in my site is obviously the creek, but another one (and my favorite) is the standing dead tree near the trail. It’s seen on the map as the dead tree closest to the top of the page, and it was a huge help when I was first trying to remember where my site was at the beginning of the year. Thank you dead tree <3

The largest interconnection with nature here is, I think, the connection with my site to the backyards of the Centennial Apartments. The creek at my site backs right up to it, and so whatever happens in the Apartments (like fertilizer or pesticide use) trickles down into my site.

I don’t consider myself a part of my place, because I’m only here temporarily, and I don’t make any changes to the site when I visit. If I had done things like planting/weeding at the site, or if I had visited it more often, then maybe I would consider myself to be a part of it.

For the Burlington bioblitz, I took a few pictures of species around campus, also also went to the little “undeveloped” corner of the Burlington country club closest to (redstone) campus.

I love iNaturalists immediate suggestions…. makes me feel like a little kid clicking on buttons to see what’ll happen. I don’t love the process of selecting your location. Feels like they could make that easier if they wanted.

I found 21 unique species across Burlington!

I couldn’t find any specific reports on the app but I did click around through a few different spots on the map (Arkansas, Tajikistan, and the Solomon Islands) and I love how many iNaturalist users seem to be just random old people cataloging the species in their backyards… It’s heartwarming 🙂

The species I found in the Burly Country Club:

(you can tell it’s me if it has a white guys hand with weirdly dry skin in it)

Spring has sprung!

Despite the snow over the weekend, I was still able to find a few signs of spring.

First were the birdcalls:

(I had to send the video to the shadow realm. sad!)

I don’t know much about bird calls so I don’t think I can identify them, but they were pretty

I also found these tracks:

I also wasn’t sure what these were (I think they had melted and refrozen overnight), but since I was able to follow them from one tree to the next, maybe a squirrel?

Most of the trees in my spot are pine, but there were also a few sugar maples and an oak that were budding 🙂

Yesterday (2/18) my friend and I took a walk to the beautiful staples plaza to visit our favorite store in the world, Michael’s. On the way back, near the gas stations, (and by near the gas stations I mean while we were poking around behind them for tracks), we saw the following:

Snow has pretty clearly fallen since the tracks were made (or maybe melted/refrozen), so we couldn’t get precise prints, but since it’s in a direct register I think it was some sort of cat (my guess is that the prints were too small to be a dog’s). I’d even wager bobcat, if they’re friendly enough to humans to stay around a gas station.

We also saw these little prints around the dumpster. Since they’re not in a straight line, it’s harder to get the walk pattern, but I think they’re in a track pattern. That with the context of the trash can is making me think raccoon.

I’m putting them up on iNaturalist after I make this blog post, but from what I remember the experience is pretty easy and user friendly 🙂

Also, while we were behind the gas station, we saw a lot of patterns like the following:

My friend and I weren’t sure if they were prints or some other pattern (rain? Fallen leaves?) but if they are prints, I think they’re birds. Crows, maybe? We didn’t see any birds around them, but I don’t think the pattern is from human interference.

Hi Carmela!

My site is out in Centennial woods (along with most of the rest of the class) not far from the backyards of Centennial court

It was hard to get pictures of some of the animal tracks, but you can kinda see in this picture the small, round tracks that I saw through a lot of my site.

Some mushrooms I saw in my site that’ve grown a lot since the fall.

And another shot of the little creek that made me chose this as my site 🙂

This was the last photo I took of my spot this year! I got a little lost trying to get here but it worked out.

The only foliage left was the White Pines and a few Norway Maples with some leaves still hanging on (there were a LOT of Norway Maple leaves on the ground). The leaves still seemed pretty fresh, but I did notice that some of the dead logs around the site seemed more decomposed.

Some mushrooms I found on a tree 🙂

I didn’t see any animal tracks (I think the snow was too thin), except for some dog paw prints. I saw a few squirrels, and I couldn’t hear any birds.

I think these are the most Vermont images I’ve ever taken.

My favorite part of my phenology spot is definitely the walk down. I usually chose to get to the spot by walking through the back lot of the Centennial Apartments until I find the culvert that feeds the brook in my spot, which I then follow back to the trail. It’s a really peaceful walk, and I like being away from the trail and everyone else in the woods. It also lets me see parts of the woods that other people don’t really get to see and interact with, including a lot of wildlife that avoids the more frequented parts of the woods.

The spot I chose at home is a park by my house, called Wildwood Preserve. I chose a spot about 10 minutes from the entrance to the park, a little bit off the trail. I unfortunately completely forgot to get pictures for this spot, but I did illustrate some of the leaves of the trees in the park.

The white oaks there are a different kind to the ones here (if I had to guess, I think they’re Oregon White Oaks, brought over and planted to make the park). There’s also a ton of Sycamores in the park, and it’s Ohio so of course I have to include the Buckeyes.

The phenology in Ohio is fairy similar to the phenology here. A few more trees still have their leaves, but there’s nothing drastic. There’s been way less frost and no snow, though, so the shrubs and ferns are lasting a little longer than here.

Here’s the map I made of my phenology site (sorry, I’m not an artist). I noticed a lot more dead trees than I remember seeing last time, and a lot more branches broken off trees. I wonder if something happened?

Since last time, most of the trees have shed their leaves, with only a few Norway Maples and evergreens left with leaves. The brook is also fuller than last time, probably because of all the rain and snow we’ve been getting.

It was nice to sit and just take in the woods for a little while. I spent a lot of the time watching on single squirrel play/work(? not sure if he was getting paid) in a pile of dead trees by the river. I liked hearing all the people walk by my site who I guessed were also doing their projects last minute, it was very relatable, I felt a strong sense of community.

My spot is about a 10 minute walk into Centennial woods, along the bike/running trail, and then a few minutes walk off-trail

I chose this place for the small creek seen in the first image, which was initially what caught my attention. The trees in the area included Eastern White Pines, Sugar Maples, Norway Maples, and some Red Maples and Yellow Birches.

For my first visit today, I decided to follow the creek from where it crossed the trail up to its source. After about a 10 minute walk, I found the source near a residential area.

I also found this half fairy ring on my way out 🙂