Month: March 2018

Hello Spring Breakers!

Early spring is my favorite season.  I love watching the world thaw and new life being created.  However, this spring break hasn’t felt very spring-like at all.  Here is Southern Vermont we have had over two feet of snow in the past week and the world looks like it is caught in a permanent blizzard – unchanging.  This stationary feeling was even more pronounced when I traveled to my new phenology spot in my hometown of Manchester, Vermont.

Right behind the local ice rink is a wooded area with trails for disk golf.

The area circled in red is the area I chose to explore with my mom and my dog this afternoon.  The area was very hilly, with a stream running through the valleys.  Unlike my phenology spot in Burlington, this body of water was most definitely a stream; muddy, swampy, and barely flowing.  The Winooski River on the other hand, although covered in ice and seemingly frozen, is a swift-moving waterway.  Another difference between this new spot and the one back in Burlington is the differentiation in species composition.

At Salmon Hole, the forest is mainly made up of deciduous trees, and there is barely any color this time of year.  The area behind the rink is mostly composed of coniferous trees, specifically Eastern Hemlocks, which gives the appearance of being forever green.

There were also some American Beech saplings in the area.  These saplings were beginning to form the classic long cigar like buds, which to me, symbolizes that spring is just around the corner.

Stopping to catch our breath for a moment, we pause, listening to our surroundings.  Chickadees are creating a harmony in the canopy above us.  The slightly electronic buzz of a woodpecker chimes in every so often.  While we could not see them physically, their voices made their presence known.

However, we did manage to see what I believe is evidence of a woodpecker enjoying a snack.  These holes in the hemlock tree helped secure my theory.

After stomping around in snow up to our knees, we finally reach the end of the path atop a very steep hill.  Flopping down on to the ground exhausted, I turn my head and what I see makes my heart melt.  Surrounding a pipe dripping water tiny green shoots are popping up all around me.  Two and a half feet of snow and bitter windchill won’t keep these first signs of life from reaching towards the sun.

Have a lovely weekend everyone, and look out for signs of new life! 🙂

Hello, Readers of Phenology Blogs!

Recently in class, we have been using the book Wetland, Woodland, and Wildland to classify different types of natural areas.  In the introduction, the book states that it does not really cover aquatic ecosystems because they are very complex and the authors had another focus in mind.  My phenology spot actually happens to be an aquatic ecosystem because it is located along a river.  I believe the technical term for this type of community is a riparian zone.

My phenology spot is located at Salmon Hole, which happens to be along the floodplains of the Winooski River.  It was very interesting to see how much the water has risen since the warm spell last week.  When I first went out to my spot during late summer, you could walk out to the island in the middle of the river, but now the river has come so far up the banks that you can’t even see the island anymore.

 <–The whole part that is underwater currently used to be solid land that you could walk out onto.

You can tell that this happened during other warm spells because of the ice that was left behind on the banks when the temperature dropped again.

These blocks of ice are a lot smaller now than they were the last time I was at Salmon Hole because we have had an abnormally warm February.

The trees have been loving all this excess water and warmth; the buds of the boxelder trees are looking a little fuller than they were last time.

 <– I have been having a lot of difficulty focusing my camera lately – I will work on that!

The warmth has also made a lot of critters come out to play – and these critters are hungry.  Signs of mid-winter munching were present throughout the area.  Most noticeably, a beaver taking a nibble of a lovely tree.

There were some other signs as well, such as twigs that had the bark scraped off, revealing the green vascular cambium.

 <–also the ends of some twigs.

If you want to check out more about what kind of area you are living in you should look up this program called BioFinder.  This is a program that Vermont's Department of Natural Resources puts out in order to help people understand where infrastructure should be placed around the state as to avoid important wildlife areas.  The site itself can be a bit temperamental, but once you get it to work, it's great for showing you key features of the landscape.

When I zoomed in on Salmon Hole (the light blue circle on the map below), I found that my phenology spot has a number of special features.  For an obvious example, my spot is located along an exemplary water surface – aka the Winooski River.  However, there were some other cool elements that I was not aware of; such as the fact that my site has some rare and uncommon plant and animal species.  The map doesn't go into the specifics, but it is very interesting to know that I am the presence of rarity.

Have a lovely day!! 🙂