A UVM blog Kendall’s Phenology Blog

My last visit to my phenology site was again a little bittersweet. It was so nice to see how green and bright my spot has gotten, but I was sad that this marked the end of my visits. Since my last visit, all the snow has melted, and so many plants have started blooming. Centennial Woods is full of signs of spring, and it is very exciting to see (I’m pretty ready for some warm weather). When I visited, it was a beautiful and sunny day around 55 degrees out. It was a little muddy on my walk down, but not as bad as I was expecting. I hung out at my phenology site for about 20 minutes, enjoying the sun, and then slowly made my way back to campus. I will miss these phenology assignments because they always give me good, stress-relieving time outside.

My phenology site sits on stolen Abenaki land. It is a place where culture once flourished, and it has a strong history.  NR 02 allowed me to learn about this culture—how they lived with the lang and had such a mutually beneficial relationship to it—which is something I am very thankful for. Today, Centennial Woods is used as a space for recreation, but it has the potential for being so much more. It could be used to educate so many people on the history of Burlington land and could increase awareness regarding local Indigenous People. A simple land acknowledgement at the trailhead would change so much, and I hope that in the future it is a step that UVM choses to take. 

I do consider myself a part of my phenology site, especially as a local member of the Burlington Community. The health of the land there is in the hands of the surrounding community, which I have been a part of my whole life. I think that everyone in the UVM community is a part of local places like Centennial Woods because of the potential impact we can have on it’s health and it’s future. 

For the iNaturalist Bioblitz, I decided to head down to the Intervale and explore the trails by the river.

I had a great time walking along the trails and enjoying some sunshine. Everything was so green!! It finally feels like spring in Burlington and I am so excited about it.

Using iNaturalist was super fun for me. I had a really good time identifying different plant species, and it was a very easy app to use. While I was on my walk, I identified around seven different plant species. The one I was most excited about were fiddleheads because of how scarce they have become in the area. Last time we visited the Intervale as a lab, we were told how fiddleheads have reduced in numbers recently because of over harvesting, so it was nice to find so many!

Along with fiddleheads, I found a lot of dandelions (yay spring!), some trout lily and lots of nettles. I got a little lost in how nice it was outside that I kept forgetting to record species, but was glad I got a good amount in at the start of my walk.

Overall, I had a great experience trying to find species and identifying them, and loved the excuse it gave me to spend a day in the sun 🙂

I live in Burlington, so over break I didn’t have much of a change of scenery, but I did visit a new location. I decided to go to Red Rocks Park, a trail system on the edge of Burlington and South Burlington right by the water. Since it is in Burlington, it has the same natural history that we have been studying in class.

Vermont was originally covered with a thick glacier. This glacier eventually retreated, and we were left with Glacial Lake Vermont covering Burlington. Slowly this became the Champlain Sea, and then Lake Champlain as we know it. Similarly to Rock Point, you can see different sediment layers on the cliffs by the water, however its bedrock geology is comprised of Monkton Formation.

I walked the trails right after the small snow storm over break. This coupled with the sunny weather made it a very fun walk. Red Rocks is full of many coniferous trees with an understory covered in many fallen trees and plants. Vermont, as I’m sure you know, has a wet continental climate, where it is cold in the winter, warm in the summer, and precipitates all year round. Because of this, the species that inhabit the area must be able to survive in fairly extreme weather.

I tried to take advantage of the snow and kept my eyes peeled for tracks by the trail. I lucked out and found what I think to be a raccoon track.

This week, I headed into Centennial Woods to try to find some signs of winter wildlife. It snowed a bit over the weekend, but was very warm today when I went out, so the snow was very thin and a little hard to see tracks in. However, I did find a few tracks that I thought were interesting!

First I found what I think to be a Gray Squirrel track. The toes were very prominent in the snow, which is what initially caught my eye. The tracks were small, and in a galloper pattern, which lead me to narrow it down to a squirrel.

Again, the most tracks were very hard to make out. I found a prominent trail of tracks showing diagonal walking, but the snow had melted away any distinguishing features.

Lastly, while walking on my way out I found small bird tracks.

It was very fun using the iNaturalist app to try to identify things I saw. I tried it out on some plants as well as the tracks and found it very useful. I am excited to keep using it to learn about more species!

Welcome to my new Phenology Site of the semester!! I decided to switch things up and choose a new location to explore areas in Burlington. I headed over to Centennial woods and found a good spot about a 10 minute walk from the path entrance. I walked off the trail for a bit to find a clearing and am excited to observe how this site changes over the semester.

I went to find a new site right after it had snowed about two inches, so any tracks I found were nearly impossible to identify. I hope next time I go I will find some better prints!

It was a very nice day to be outside and thankfully not too chilly. I will be keeping my eyes pealed for prints and identifiers in the coming weeks all around campus and am excited to go back to my new site for the next assignment!

It feels a little sad knowing that this is the phenology site post for this semester. Today I went to the Intervale in the late afternoon and the weather was pretty brutal. The wind was super strong and gusty and the sky was so dark and grey. In the woods by myself it almost felt like a scene from a horror movie… a little creepy.

Once I got to my spot, it was nice to sit for a bit and take everything in.

I noticed a lot of changes since I was last at my spot. First, the river’s water level lowered significantly since and was moving much slower. All of the leaves had finally dropped off the trees and much of the understory was wilting and browning. I didn’t see much animal activity, possibly because of the weather, however there was lots of Crow activity as they flew overhead, some possibly migrating south.

While it is melancholy to have to write this last post, I am excited to find a potentially new site for next semester and observe how much more the ecosystems change over the coming months. Since I am local to the area, the Intervale is a place my family visits often to go on walks or cross country ski, so I will keep my eyes pealed over break for more shifts around my site!

To make my event map, I started at the back of marsh life and walked to the fountain on Waterman Green. I went by Howe Library and crossed University Pl and it was a really nice walk. It was sunny today, and the perfect temperature. I went with a friend and it was a nice opportunity to enjoy the nice weather 🙂

It was quite the adventure getting to my site today. The rain from the past couple of days flooded the Intervale and created a huge swampy river right over the path to get to my site. It was about 1.5-4 ft deep depending on where you were and the only way to my site was to go through it. I almost went for a swim but made it out with only one leg soaked. Having to be creative in getting to my site made it that much more enjoyable when I was sitting there.

Once I did get to my site, it was really nice. The temperature was perfect (although my leg and toes were a little chilly) and it was almost completely sunny. Today had been a stressful one, so sitting there was a nice change of pace. The sound of the breeze and the birds was peaceful to say the least and I’m glad I made it down there today.

While sitting at my site, I noticed a couple of changes since the last time I was there. First, the leaves have almost completely changed color or dropped, although the understory was still predominantly green. Many of the trees bordering the river had the majority of their leaves while those farther away and deeper into the woods had lost most of their leaves– I wonder why this is? The Winooski River was amazingly high (it has been raining a lot recently) and was moving much faster than last time.

I chose the Intervale Center as the location of my Phenology Site. To get here, I biked down Main St., turned down North Prospect St. then rode straight down Intervale Rd. until I got to the trail head for the walking paths. I walked straight down the path until I got to a clearing by the Winooski River, which is where I chose as my site. I chose this location because of its variety in natural components, as it is right on the shore of a river, as well as surrounded by a deciduous forest. 

Around my site, I observed mostly Boxelder trees, as well as Silver Maple, and Cottonwood. The ground was heavily covered by vegetation consisting of poison ivy, rye, ground ivy, and wood nettles and grasses. Although my site is well into the forest, it is on the edge of a heavily-trafficked trail, so I am curious to see how human impact will affect it as the seasons change.