Site Introduction and Overview – October

My phenology site is located along the bike path on the way to the Ethan Allen Homestead (coordinates 44°29’43.1″N 73°13’27.3″W). Biking to my location from campus takes around 15 minutes and is relatively straightforward—you ride down North Prospect street, turn left on Bright, right on Oak, left on Louis, and then take the bike path down for around one mile. My site is a large and easily noticeable wetland to the left right off of the path.

The wetland itself is around 150,000 square feet, although my site hones in on the banks of a smaller section of open water thats around 15,000 square feet. The water is mostly still, only moved occasionally by the wind. Multiple dark green patches of algae were present on the surface of the water, indicating potential algal blooms as a result of the still water and potential pollutants entering the lake. The area itself is largely open and dominated by long grasses and weedy plants, such as cattails, bullrushes, milkweed, and Joe Pye Weed. The only trees present were green ash trees, and there were around a dozen scattered across the area. All of the green ashes were large, varying between 30 and 50 feet, indicating that they are all relatively old and have been present at the site for a while. Common buckthorn also dominated the area, largely growing near or under the green ashes, and were also relatively large in size and well developed (size varied between 3 to 8 feet).

Multiple flocks of geese flew overhead while I was at the site, indicating the migration currently occurring as bird species move south. A few small sparrows were also spotted in the green ashes. The milkweeds spotted had mostly already opened to disperse seeds, although around 20% were either still closed or beginning to open. Most cattails were still closed, although a few spikes had begun to open as well. As October is the month in which most seeds are dispersed, this behavior is characteristic to the fall and expected for the area.

The weather while observing my area was around 65 degrees, overcast, and rainy. A thunderstorm began while I was at the site, potentially impacting the animal species in the area.