Things are starting to feel a lot like springtime. The air is full of the smell of the earth waking up, the smell of fresh dirt, and the warm wind is refreshing after the dark days of winter. There is still snow in the occasional spot here and there, but most of Burlington has shed its wintery coat. There was still a fair amount of snow cover at my phenology site, Salmon Hole. I attribute this to the position of the site, it is facing north and is protected by steep embankments on each side. The topography and location of my site doesn’t allow for sun to reach down through the trees and onto the light layer of snow remaining on the forest floor. The river has thawed out since last time I visited and the water is rushing fast as ever, a sure sign of tremendous snowmelt up river in the mountainous headwaters of the Winooski.
My Paper Birch that I have been tracking looks to be in the same phenological stage as last time. The buds are all fully formed but are dormant has they wait for the correct photoperiod to break. I’m not sure when Paper Birch breaks bud, but I feel like it’s gonna be soon, seeing how fast temperatures are starting to warm. I was able to get a pretty good look at my tree’s buds, but just to affirm that my observation was correct I checked a nearby Paper Birch and confirmed that it was also in the same stage of bud dormancy.
Unlike last time, the water was running and the shoreline was free of ice when I visited recently. The snow cover last time I visited Salmon Hole was around 80-100% in places. This time the snow cover seemed to be around 40-60%, which is much less than last time, but still more snow cover than in neighboring areas of Burlington and Winooski. I had a great time visiting, it was my first time going in the early morning so it was cool to observe my site at a different time of day than I typically do.
Thanks!
-Finn Murphy