Today was the first day in a while that I had the opportunity to visit my phenology site. I was excited to finally be back in Centennial woods and for the challenge of identifying the natural community of my site, to my surprise it was not nearly as hard as I thought. Arriving at my phenology site I began taking note of the species of trees surrounding the steep bank of the brook. Looking around I noticed just how diverse the plant life of my location was. Many of the surrounding tree species were common hardwoods such as red oak and sugar maple along with some buckthorn and beech, but there were also conifers such as white pines and more importantly, hemlocks. The mixed assortment of hardwoods and conifers along with hemlocks was a dead giveaway that I was standing in a Hemlock-northern hardwood forest. The presence of semi sandy soil and the lack of moisture in the soil also aided in the identification.
After feeling satisfied in my identification of the natural community of my site I began to examine the changes that had occurred over the past couple weeks. There was more snow on the ground than the last time I visited along with more tracks. The snow wasn’t great and the tracks were old but I was able to clearly identify deer, rabbit and coyote tracks. I was also interested when I noticed that the brook water was much dirtier than it was when I last visited. It was a muddy brown, possibly from snow melt washing soil down into the water. As spring approaches I’m excited to see how Centennial Brook will continue to change. Enjoy break yall!
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