Over the relaxing thanksgiving break I went back to my home in Arlington Virginia. For this blog post I chose the closest national park to my house, Great Falls National Park. This park straddles the potomac river and is characterized by the rushing river, great falls, and steep cliffs.
Virginia is a few weeks behind Vermont in fall. Many of the leaves were still clinging to the trees, and some of the birds that were migrating through Vermont a couple of weeks ago are making their way through Virginia. After close observation of my spot I realized how specific ecological knowledge is to the place. In my spot in Centennial Woods I can name almost every tree and birds I see. However, in Virginia I am way more hesitant and only a few of the trees are familiar to me. Instead of maples dominating the woods oaks populate most areas in the park and in the suburbs. White oaks outnumber red oaks and there are no sugar maples. Tulip trees are abundant all over the area, beeches take the places of maples, yellow bellied sapsuckers replace the harry woodpeckers, and ring necked ducks and cormorants do the diving with ought any loons. Along the edges of the rivers and tops of the cliffs red pines stand gnarled and flakey instead of the tall straight white pines of Vermont.
There are many similarities between the two spots as well. Red oaks and elms are prevalent in both areas. Cardinals, chickadees, robins, and mallards are abundant in both locations. Red tailed hawks soar over both Centennial Woods and Great Falls. The biggest similarity in both locations is the amazing amount of wildlife in some seemingly urban locations.