The foliage has completely changed at my phenology site. There are no leaves left hanging on the trees — save for the few eastern white pines in the area still having their leaves. You could say that it is certainly “stick season” now. The leaf litter on the ground has continued to decompose and the entire forest floor is either mud or leaves currently.
I did observe what looked like some mammal paw prints in the snow on the log pictured above but other than that there was minimal animal activity. I could not hear any birds and I saw one gray squirrel on my walk out of the woods back towards campus.
It had recently rained when I went to visit, but there was more snow left in Centennial Woods than there was on campus, which I found very interesting. The walk was a bit tricky as well because all of the mud had frozen solid, making the ground uneven and slippery. It was a pleasant visit, though, because the temperature was higher than it has been in the past week which allowed me to sit and reflect for a while without being too cold.
What I enjoyed most about my phenology site was the quiet it provided. It takes me only about fifteen minutes to walk from my dorm to Centennial Woods, but it feels like an entirely different world. It is much quieter and more peaceful, which I definitely appreciated on this last visit due to the stress of finals week. I loved having access to a little pocket of nature without having to travel far and I really enjoyed bringing friends out to visit it that had never thought to visit the natural areas on campus. I will definitely be returning to this spot as a place of reflection and relaxation in my years to come at UVM.
