A UVM blog NR 1020 Phenology Blog

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OCTOBER 2nd, 2024 

My phenology place is a metal and wood bridge over a brook on the Burlington bike path behind Redstone Campus and the Burlington Country Club golf course. Today I arrived by bike, about 1.8 miles down the paved trail starting behind the track. The trail goes adjacent to Spear Street, then curves in before route 189. It gets woodsier as I approach the bridge. 

I chose this location because I have gone on runs on this trail before, and my favorite part was the woody part where the bridge is. The fall leaves are turning there, and it feels more secluded than being right alongside Spear Street. Also, the brook adds an additional element to the surrounding ecosystem that will be interesting to observe through the seasons. 

The vegetation around the path leading to the bridge is grassy, with Virginia Creeper, Barberry and Goldenrod growing wild near the fences that come right before the bridge as the land drops away down to the brook. Down low, near the water, the surrounding trees are all tall and coniferous, mostly consisting of large Eastern Hemlock. Closer to the bridge, on higher grounds, are smaller hardwood trees. These Boxelders, White Oaks, Poplars, Sugar Maples and a lot of Green Ash are arching over the start of the bridge, or growing on the edge between the path and the Hemlocks deeper in the woods. In this area are some smaller young Eastern White Pines as well.

Observed Plants (Observations · iNaturalist):

• Boxelder
• Green Ash (turning yellow for the beginning of fall)
• White Oak (all pretty small, under 6ft)
• Eastern Hemlocks (large)
• Paper Birch (small)
• Barberry
• Sugar Maple
• Poplar
• Eastern White Pine

OCTOBER 26th, 2024

Today I visited my phenology spot by running to it. When I got there, I sat on a bench, and I started to get cold because it’s getting close to November now. There were quite a few cars on the road behind me, which made it pretty loud, but I could still hear a few songbirds. Black-capped chickadees were the main birds I could hear, with the occasional blue jay sounding from the trees. Even though it was only about 3pm, the sun still shone low through the trees, giving it a late afternoon look. The most common colors I saw were green, yellow and brown, from the leaves and grass around me.

Vegetation-wise, the main difference from last time was the lack of leaves on trees, and the amount on the ground. All of the Green Ash had lost their leaves, and most of the red maple too. The red maple trees had a lot of brown fallen leaves surrounding them and on the grass around me. The Poplar trees and paper birches still had lots of yellow leaves that were quaking in the breeze. All of the Virginia creeper was dead, leaving the fences to be covered in brown vines.

At Home Phenology Post:

For Thanksgiving break I headed home to Gardiner, NY. In the front of my house, I have a little pond, which I chose as my phenology place. This sunny Monday morning I walked out there to observe my surroundings. Right now, the pond is extremely low, the lowest I’ve ever seen it. The drought in New York has left it to look like a muddy puddle. Something interesting I saw was interesting patterns cut into a planted paper birch, likely done by a sapsucker.

Compared to my spot in Burlington, this place is much more manicured. It is surrounded by grass and rocks that were placed there by whoever built the pond. It is much more man-made than the forest surrounding the bridge on the Burlington bike path. To my left is a massive Pin Oak, the tallest tree by my house. To my right is a grove of planted Spruce trees. In front of me, before the water, is a lot of brown reeds sticking out of the mud. It’s much quieter here compared to my spot in Burlington, and I can hear the birds a lot clearer. One bird that really drew my attention was the Northern Cardinal singing loudly. While both of my places have a water source, this one is man-made compared to the flowing stream in Burlington. And in my other spot, I saw a much broader variety of trees and natural woodland.

December at my phenology place (12/4/2024)

Unlike the other months at the Burlington bike path bridge, this time there was a dusting of snow on the ground. The snow was on the bridge and grass around the path, and on the path in patches. There was evidence of other bikers, walkers and dogs traveling on the path after the snow based on their tracks on the bridge. Other than that, I did not see any prints of other animals in the woods along the side of the trail. In fact, the only wildlife I noticed was the Tufted Titmice twittering in the trees above.

Compared to my last time visiting this spot, there were a lot less leaves. The only thing clinging to the branches of the trees around me were a few curled up White Oak leaves. All the other leaves were buried under some snow and starting to fall apart and decompose. I saw some red Barberry fruits hanging on to empty branches low on the ground too.

The road behind me seemed to be louder than I remembered it as well. This could be due to the lack of leaves on the trees in between me and the road, so the noise isn’t softened or blocked. This noise pollution probably is one of the reasons I didn’t see many signs of wildlife too.

Overall, I enjoyed my phenology place because it gave me a chance to get out in nature and get to know a place well in all conditions. This location was fun to access by biking and running, and I got to go there in hot weather, peak foliage, and now snow. I enjoyed getting to know the trees there and the interesting landscape. My spot had both forest and a stream that changed a lot through the seasons, and it was always fun to see how each micro-landscape within my location acted differently through time.

NR 1020 Phenology Blog Continued

January 23rd, 2025

It has been very cold in Burlington for the past week, and I biked on the snowy path to my phenology place in below freezing temperatures. For the most part, it looked quite similar to when I was here in early December. There was a layer of snow on the ground and on the bridge. This time the stream was much more frozen over and had some sort of animal tracks on it. Maybe the animals went down there to cross or to look for running water to drink.

Right alongside the paved path there were a lot of dog and human tracks as they strayed from the path. There was also a small animal that left tracks in the snow, as well as a bigger one that was hard to read because it was old.

Lastly, there was a vine that was touching the snow, and left interesting marks as it got blown around in the wind.

Wildlife Signs in Burlington

Me and Quisha decided to adventure down to North Beach by running on this gorgeous bluebird day. We got to the beach and mostly saw human tracks on foot, snowshoes and Nordic skis, accompanied by many dog prints.

We ventured up to the woods near the entrance to the rock point trail where the snow was deeper and less windblown. Here we saw some interesting tracks, mainly grey squirrels judging by their habit of running up trees in their path. We also saw tracks of a really small animal that was walking on top of the snow, up to a fallen tree poking out of the snow. Based off the size of the tracks and narrow straddle, I am guessing that it was a shrew.

Most of the animals seemed to stay away from the shore, avoiding the ice and exposed terrain. Most of the tracks were found in the woods and seemed to be on the older side with not super clear definition.

Down in the water in a part that wasn’t iced over, three mallard ducks were floating and dipping in the water to catch food.