We have officially surpassed the spring equinox since the past March, it is now mid April with temperatures in New Rochelle, NY at the lowest being only around 40 degrees Fahrenheit at nighttime. All these spring changes lead me to make some great finds at my phenology blog site and around town, as well as explore my artistic abilities and interpretations.
The buds explored in my last post are now beginning to bloom, and here are some of the comparisons and discoveries in terms of plants and foliage that I have made now!
Here is a drawing I did of a lilac bud breaking. A very different look from last month! They already are starting to have a great fragrance, and by May will be in all of their full bloom glory.
As Nature Study Woods is a fairly disturbed area that has seen some phenological succession, it is not surprising to find an invasive plant like the bayberry growing around the swampier bits of the woods. They’ve maintained their red leaves, but new growth coming in is green, and their red buds are flowering yellow.
Nature Study Woods may be able to fall under the definition of a floodplain forest as the Hutchinson River runs through it and allows for low lying, swampier areas. Ferns do great in this type of wetter, shadier conditions, they are one of my favorites, I was able to spot only one displaying its signature curl popping out of the soil.
I saw some chipmunks and bunnies on this trip, and see them at my job all the time. Overturning logs I did find some worms, but something I didn’t really come to search for but found a lot of were spiders and their webs, some with their ant prey inside. A hawk (which I believe is a red-tailed hawk but I can’t be certain) has claimed its perch on one of our highest trees on the property and comes by almost every day, quite the sight to see. We even saw him catch and kill a rabbit. With all this animal activity in play, I was able to come up with this species diagram.
I’ll be honest in saying I had some difficulty with making this, it is vague but does show how these trophic levels interact. I was sure to add the worm because in my opinion they do the most important work, and as a species sometimes go overlooked!
Here is my hawk friend on his perch. We named him Sususs Amongus as a joke. What is a more fitting name? Maybe Walter Poleman the second.
