With the arrival of spring (though it’s been a fairly snowy one so far) comes another visit to the Salmon Hole! On a sunny yet cold Friday afternoon, I took a stroll down to the Winooski. Along the way, I saw promising signs of the season to come. For example, I noticed some tree buds starting to swell, lots of bird activity, and bits of greenery peeking out from the snow.
Some of the tree twigs/buds I looked at included shagbark hickory, sugar maple, Norway maple, boxelder, red twig dogwood, and common buckthorn. A few of these had started to open up, while others seemed to be put off by the lasting cold weather and have stayed shut for now.
Red twig dogwood (left) and boxelder (right)
Norway maple (left) and sugar maple (right)
Here’s a sketch I did of what I believe to be a shagbark hickory twig that I found on the ground during this visit:
Additionally, while I didn’t see any signs of amphibians and the only tracks I saw were from humans and domestic dogs, I found signs of spring in other places. For example, the persistence of moss and ferns as well as the emergence of greenery such as garlic mustard and celandine showed the swinging in of spring.
Schreber’s big red stem moss/Pleurozium schreberi (left) and Smoothcap moss/Atrichum undulatum (right)
Celandine (left) and garlic mustard (right)
Another exciting discovery during this visit was being able to hear and see some new bird species that I hadn’t observed before at the Salmon Hole. Some of them were the same, like the ever-present crow, but others I hadn’t seen before in this area, which may have been linked to the changing of seasons (or the high tide of the river at the time I visited). For example, this visit I saw gulls and some mallards, which I’ve seen flying overhead before but never so close to me in the water and on the rocky cliffs. I also got to witness a juvenile double-crested cormorant repeatedly dive into the Winooski trying to forage some food.
Two gulls walking on the rocky cliffside of the Winooski (left) and two mallards swimming in the water (right)
Two videos showing a juvenile double-crested cormorant landing in the Winooski and then diving to get food.