Changes in the season are prevalent throughout the Vermont landscape. In my site the ferns have turned to a light yellow and brittle. Yellow pine needles cover the ground like a blanket and small white mushrooms peak through the moist ground. The Eastern White Pine trees and Norther White Cedars are still fully covered in needles because they are evergreen trees, meaning they don’t drop their leaves for the change of the season. The site is quieter than it used to be. Less chirping of birds and singing of bugs and frogs. A lot of birds have flown south due to the dropping temperatures in Vermont.

I was sitting in my site observing the landscape and a great horned owl flew onto a branch that stands over Centennial brook. It brought a presence into the space that no other creature would have. The birds in Centennial Woods were spooked by its appearance. Blue jays made long screeching calls and chickadees bounced around in the trees to see what was up. As I was leaving my site, I saw an owl pellet on the ground next to a fallen log, so clearly its not the first time an owl has visited my site.

Birds eye view of the pine stand in Centennial Woods

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cgtrw1DOxjJ5yxCN5vgcL3-Sm4dQB3UW&usp=sharing

Welcome to my phenology plot blog. My plot is located in Centennial Woods in a Pine Stand that is along Centennial Brook.

To locate my site start at the entrance to Centennial Woods off Catamount Drive. Follow the trail until you hit a fork at a hard wood stand with a few large White Pine trees. Take a left at that site and keep going for a while until you hit another opening. Stay straight and pass a Paper birch on your left and walk onto the board walk. You will pass over Centennial Brook and then move back onto a dirt trail that leads up to a small clearing with a Northern White Cedar on your left. Continue onto a trail that takes a slight right and goes down a hill. Centennial Brook should be directly to your left. Keep walking till you hit a stand of large White Pine Trees. There is a little understory of ferns and pine needles all over the ground. The center of my site it up and to the right from the trail with the brook on your left. I mark the midpoint of my site with a large fallen tree covered in moss, up the hill from the trail.

You have now found my site!

As you can tell, there is a little understory in this plot yet the over story is thick, allowing a muted light to peek though the pine needles. The ground cover is thin but consists mostly of ferns an a few varieties of herbaceous plants. The majority of the trees there are White Pines with a few small American Beech trees and Northern White Cedar.