Month: November 2020

The phenology spot I chose in my home town is a small wetland located near my neighborhood and old school. The wetland isn’t too large, it’s roughly the size of a soccer field. The area is dominated by small woody plants and shrubs, although there were a few larger trees as well. The largest trees in the area were birches planted along the dirt path leading to the site, although there was multiple ashes and a few boxelders closer to the water. There were also a few young pines and barberry shrubs along the path. The area had some grasses and weeds, although most of the ground was covered in wet, decomposing leaves that had been freshly shed. Historically, the site has had a problem with an overgrowth of aquatic plants on the surface of the lake. I’m not entirely sure what species of plant it is, but it has slowly been taking over the wetland for the past couple of years. The condition of the plants has worsened such that a thick layer of the small plants ranging between a half an inch and a full inch thick has developed across the water’s entire surface. The plants were so thick that I watched a small sparrow walk across the surface.

Other than the sparrow, a few other small birds were seen quickly or heard through their calls. The only bird I could identify through its call was a chickadee, although there were multiple other species present. I also witnessed a huge flock of between 20 and 30 geese fly overhead, although none stopped. When I visited the site again a few days later earlier in the day, many ducks were sited along the edges of the wetland. Three male mallards were seen and around 8 younger female mallards.

This site is similar to my Burlington site in the sense that both are centered around some small body of water. Similarly, both bodies of water are dealing with a type of plant growth on the surface, with my Portland site being covered in an aquatic plant and my Burlington site having a few small algal blooms. Both sites have a range of birdlife, although it seemed that my Portland site had a wider range of species and was potentially a more ideal habitat given the number of birds seen and heard. Geese, although likely different species, were spotted at both sites. Although the vegetation was largely different, a few similarities include a high frequency of smaller bushes and a few ashes present at both locations. My Burlington site was dominated by reed plants, such as cattails and bulrushes, although no reed plants or longer grasses were present at all near my Portland site. The cold, overcast, and damp weather I experienced in Portland when visiting my site reminded me of the weather conditions of my Burlington site on my most recent visit, as both sites are reflecting the slow transition to winter.

The main change in my site since I last visited were with the vegetation. The green ashes lost their remaining leaves, with only a few dried leaves hanging on to the branches. The buckthorn shrubs had also lost the majority of their leaves as well. Overall, there was a shift from more green vegetation to brown and yellow vegetation as the long grasses and weeds surrounding the site died off and the majority of other plants lost their leaves, resulting in bare branches. The bulrushes and other reed plants are still in the process of seed dispersal, and nearly every bulrush had small white tufts of seeds slowly coming out. The algae blooms on the lake were gone, potentially due to colder waters making it harder for the algae to live.

Snow geese were still present at the site. There were two relatively large flocks swimming in the marsh, around 20 total. The geese were relatively calm, honking occasionally but mostly inactive. No other birds were sighted. Similarly, no birds nests were found—even in the snag—which surprised me.

I found more evidence of human life at my site today than in the past. There were multiple pieces of styrofoam, a crushed can, a few large and partially buried plastic bags, and a small plastic shovel under the green ash tree. Similarly, I found that half of the barbed wire fence to the left of the green ash tree was collapsed with weeds and grasses growing over it. The trampled paths of grass leading down to my site were also more distinct, potentially implying that more people have been visiting it.