With the arrival of spring, my phenology spot was incredibly active. During my walk to my phenology spot, birds could be heard all throughout Centennial Woods, squirrels were chasing each other through the understory, minnows were present in the streams, and insect activity is beginning to return. There was some incredibly exciting amphibian activity a few paces upstream from my official phenology spot. As I arrived at my spot, I noticed strange noises that seemed to be coming from a little pool upstream of the bridge which marks my phenology spot. At first, I thought there may be ducks making strange quacking noises. To my surprise, these were frogs.
https://uvmoffice-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/ggrzan_uvm_edu/EcRm-Hg_t39LqjGuZWrtMQ4BrKOyLf39UJeE6fvECfjBPA (a video of the frog activity)
I was soon able to identify these guys as wood frogs by using iNaturalist and then comparing the chirping sounds that I heard to videos of wood frog noises online. I was super excited to find that these frogs are the ones directly mentioned in “Naturally Curious”, that freeze solid in the winter and thaw out as the weather gets warmer.
Here are some general pictures of my spot- not a whole lot has changed other than the surrounding animal activity.
There aren’t a whole lot of budding shrubs directly on my phenology spot, but I was able to find some in the surrounding area.
Finally, here are some videos that I captured on my way out of Centennial Woods. The first video depicts an American red squirrel and a bird that I haven’t been able to get a firm ID for with iNaturalist or with Merlin (some kind of woodpecker?). The second video depicts a blue jay hopping through the trees.