Month: November 2017

Hello Everybody, Happy Almost Thanksgiving!

Before we get started I want to guide you to this lovely map of my at home phenology spot so that you have a better idea of the place I am talking about.

I had to do a phenology assignment in high school, and this was my spot back then; it felt good to be back.

Long before it was an assignment, I would visit the little valley in my backyard to explore and discover.  Each time I visited, the valley had a new surprise waiting for me: a broken colorful glass vase, a mysterious metal box, etc.  Now I realize that it was just people dumping their trash in our backyard, but when I was younger I liked to imagine the story behind each new “artifact” we found.   Maybe that vase was 100s of years old and worth millions of dollars, maybe magical trolls left them out at night hoping that we would find them!

The possibilities were endless, but not nearly as cool as the truth we discovered as we dove deeper into the woods.  Once we got past the initial woodiness, a marshland emerged, bringing with it a tiny river and more treasures to be discovered.

We found, what my brother and I affectionately like to call, “The Tunnel”.  “The Tunnel” was a narrow twisting passageway that led under the road and to the other side of the woods.  I remember when we reached the bend in the pipe the first time we entered the tunnel.  We could no longer see light from either end of the passageway and we weren’t sure how much longer the path went on.  But we braved the cobwebs and the make-believe murders and made it to the other side in one piece.

 <—- "The Tunnel"

The swampy spongy land that is the valley has always been important to me because it helped nurture a sense of curiosity and courage.  I am sure that many a story has been created there in the past, and that many more will be written in the future.

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In terms of species composition, my two phenology spots are not very similar.  While they may both be along a river (I use this term loosely in regards to my at home phenology spot) and in disturbed areas, that is where their similarities end.

At my phenology spot in Burlington, the trees are much larger and mostly Boxelder maples.  In my new phenology spot, there is a greater variety in plant life.  For example, there are quite a few white birches, but they are very small and young.  This is a sign that my new phenology site was cleared more recently than my spot in Burlington.

 <—- paper birch

Also, the majority of the area at my new site is covered in honeysuckle bushes.  Most of the leaves are gone, but you can still tell that they are honeysuckle because of the slightly peeley tan colored bark, and the multiple branches that seem to come out of the ground in the same place.  I have also seen them blooming in the spring and summer.

There is not much undergrowth at my site in Burlington, but the majority of the composition in this area seems to be in the understory.

Since most of the plants were at or below eye level, it was very easy to see that many of them were going to seed.

I'm not quite sure what this plant is, I believe it is related to goldenrod, but it was everywhere and I got small cotton like little seeds all over my arms and legs.  The seeds themselves looked like small bark like flowers that had tiny tufts of down sprouting out of their tops.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with this picture of some very cool moss I found:

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Good Afternoon from Salmon Hole!

Almost all the leaves have disappeared from the trees surrounding my phenology spot.  The windstorms this past week have done a fantastic job of knocking them all off.  The leaves now coat the ground in a very thick layer of organic matter that makes the most perfect rustling sound when you walk through them.

 <—- Spooky Skeletal Trees!!

I created an Event Map this week to record the senses and distinguishable landscape features that stand out on the journey to my phenology spot.

Here is a picture of my map!

With all the leaves gone from the trees, I was very clearly able to see signs of beaver activity and how they interacted with the landscape.

Below is a gallery of photos for some the signs of beaver activity I spotted.

Also with the lack of leaves, there was a severe lack of color in this area.  That made it particularly easy to spot the colorful fungi that grew on the trees.

Here are a couple of examples of some fun-guys I met while in the woods:

I also ended up picking up at least three different drink containers and two different kinds of chip bags while in the woods, because the lack of foilage made the litter particularly prominant.  I ran out of hand space, but there was a lot of trash that I was not able to get to.  They really should put a trash reciptical in the parking lot of Salmon Hole.

Here are some of the bigger items I could not quite carry on my way out:

To recap: beavers=cool, fungi=cool, trash=NOT COOL!!

Have a lovely day! 🙂