A UVM blog Centennial Woods Observations-Izzy

Looking back at pictures from January, I see that the forest floor and trees were covered in snow. I returned one last time, and it has changed drastically. Trees are budding, and all over the forest floor, there are sprouts of ferns and shrubs. Visiting now is much more pleasant because it isn’t cold and windy. I could hear birds and see frogs and small fish in the creek. I can say I definitely like this time of year more.

If you can find them, this picture has three frogs in it. There were frogs all along the creek’s bank. I never knew that there were frogs in this area.

I’ve become familiar with a spot that is just surrounded by trees and is bare. Around this bare spot are a lot of ferns, oaks, and birches.

The culture that I see here is people conducting scientific research in the area. For example, when walking down to the creek, there are maple saplings to plant later in the forest to give it more biodiversity. The scientific culture found here is to protect the natural scene.

Revisiting my spot over the years has made me feel connected with the place because I’ve seen it go through its stages. I’ve also seen the wildlife and plants go through their own stages. When I first visited, it was all green and warm. Then in the fall, the leaves covered the ground, and you could see the sky. Next was winter, seeing all the snow and being able to track animals. Lastly, now, seeing the area come back from a freezing winter, and hearing animals is all part of the cycle that I’ve observed this year.

So first, I couldn’t participate in the Nature Challenge through iNaturalist because my camera wasn’t working through the app. Instead, I did the challenge with Will since he could use the iNaturalist app.

We went around campus (Central and Davis) identifying trees with the app. It was pretty easy, we took a picture of a tree, either its bark or buds, and then it identified it for us. However, the app gave us the same species every time, which was inaccurate.

Paper Birch behind Davis with buds.

Sugar maples in the early stages of releasing pollen, found near the library.

Eastern white pines were found behind Davis, and some still had pine cones.

Looking at other cities that participated in the challenge this weekend, it is interesting to see which phenophase they are in. For example, beavers are active in DC right now, one post showed a tree that had fallen do to beaver activity at the base.

I went out to collect data on March 29th in the morning. It had previously snowed the night before (6-7ins) and was still snowing. Before going out, I expected buds to be present but not breaking. Yes, Burlington had a few warm days, but it was still cold at night and some other days.

All the trees that we observed were around the same phenophase. They all had no buds, leaves, pollen, or followers. The buds that I observed were not breaking and still stiff.

From NPN’s website, I learned that tracking when leaves and flowers appear can be a clear indication of climate change. It can also be a sign of how harsh the winter was leading into spring. For example, in DC, two years ago, the cherry blossom trees bloomed in the first week of March, and now the peak bloom is the last week of March.

I went to Redstone Campus and checked out the eastern white pine area. I tried to find fresh enough tracks to identify. Instead, I found a hole in a log or some brush. Since the snow at the entrance had been trampled, it looked like a den with some activity coming in and out.

Using the iNaturalist app was easy and interesting where people were also what they’ve discovered in the area.

The tracks leading out from the den were all over the place, but I was able to identify some larger and smaller prints. Since some were larger than others, they could have big hind feet and small fronts. The animal was definitely small from the print sizes. Due to the big hind feet, I guess this is either a squirrel or a rabbit.

When I went to my phenology spot today, I saw little wildlife. I saw no animals and heard no birds. While walking, I heard only the sound of the wind and the moving trees. The trail was very icy, so it was hard to look for prints. However, I did find some animal prints further in the forest.

The picture above looks like a print of a rabbit. The hind feet and the small paws in front give that clue.

I couldn’t make these tracks out, but it seems like the animal is walking and not hopping because the prints are going in a straight line. It could be a dog or a small cat of some sort.

This looks like some prints, but it is all over the place, and I’m not sure if the animal is hopping or walking. This could also be snow melt or snow that had fallen from the trees and made these patterns.

Today, there was a lot of snow in Centennial Woods. The area looks very different from the last time I visited in Fall. Now, the forest is covered in a white blanket with many footprints leading the way. The only animals that I could detect in the area were birds chirping, dog prints, squirrel prints, and potential hare prints.

The trees that still had leaves were the Eastern White Pines, and the rest of the trees were bare. Underneath the snow, I assume some leaves are in the process of decomposing. I don’t have any fruit-bearing trees in my spot, and if I do, then they don’t have any.

Final comment: The aspect I enjoyed the most at my Phenology Spot was the feeling of being away from urbanization. Yes, I can still hear the interstate, but when I look around, I can only see trees and ferns. Since this place is very relaxing and quiet, I can escape here, and my thoughts can wander.

I’m spending Thanksgiving in DC, which has very few natural areas. Since it is a city, I would have to make more than a 30-minute drive to visit a natural place. For this reason, I chose my small backyard.

This backyard was renovated and has looked different before. It has gone through some cycles of fencing being replaced, hedges being removed, and a porta potty being stationed there. My backyard has 3 trees compared to my Vermont phenology spot, having 7 times as many. When standing in my backyard, I hear constant noise from car engines because of the busy street that it is near. In my Vermont spot, you can hear cars in the distance, but not as close as here in DC. The factor that contributes to most of these differences is the type of area. DC is a very populated area with a lot of commuters and streets while Burlington is a town with closer natural areas around it.

In response to Honorable Harvest, I cleaned up the leaves from our neighbor’s Northern Red Oak that leans over the fence. Cleaning up these leaves will allow water to seep into the ground more easily and hydrate the ground.

Key: Pink – Eastern White Pines, Orange – Paper Birch, yellow – Norway Maple, red – White Oak, green – ferns, brown – dead/bare shrubs, blue – stream, white – outline of path, purple – center of phenology spot

When sitting down in my phenology spot (Centennial Woods), it was very quiet. The main noises I could detect were cars in the distance, people walking by, and small critters in the leaves. It was peaceful sitting there and doing nothing but looking around and noticing the changes in the season.

When walking along the path in Centennial Woods, I noticed how I couldn’t see the ground because of all the fallen leaves. The colors were mostly yellow and light brown from Norway Maples and Birches. When looking up into the trees, almost all have lost their leaves, making the forest look bare. When nearing my phenology spot, there were more pine needles on the ground that had freshly fallen since they were still green. When sitting down, I spotted a lot of big Norway Maple leaves and dark brown White Oak leaves. There was still some greenery because of the ferns, but on the other side of the path were dead and unidentifiable shrubs. 

Hi, I finished setting up my blog/site and also joined the inaturalist project.

My location is a spot in Centennial Woods. When in front of the Davis Center oval, head straight towards the parking lot and continue around the corner past the pollinator garden. At the intersection turn right and continue past the light. You will head down a path that leads to a busier intersection. Walk past the UVM police station and in a few feet you will see a bike rack next to a sign that says “Centennial Woods”. Enter the woods and walk for 5 mins, you will cross two board walks. You will know you are there when the path splits into two ways, go to the left and you will arrive.

On October 11th the vegetation around the path is very green with ferns and low plant cover. The location has little grass with a lot of pine needles and dead leaves on the ground. This can be an indication of the level of acidity of the earth. The most common woody species found in my area are White Oak, Eastern White Pines, Paper Birch, Sugar Maple, Red Maples, and juvenile Norway Maples.