iNaturalist tree blog
iNaturalist Project
I found these tracks in centennial woods. Since the snow was beginning to melt it was difficult to determine what the species was, but based on the walking pattern being diagonal and the size of the print being around an inch and a half, I am hypothesizing it to be a gray fox. iNaturalist was unable to identify it because the prints were not distinct. It could have also been a red fox because they have similar tracks, but I went with gray fox because the toes seemed a little bit wider, but I am honestly not sure. Uploading to iNaturalist was very easy and straightforward. It is cool to see everyone elses observations as well!
January 22nd update
I visited my sight right after the snow storm, making it look like a winter wonderland. Fresh snow covered all of the plants and any remaining leaves on the deciduous trees have since fallen. The river had a layer of ice on top but it was very thin due to water movement. Down the bank a little bit there was no ice because the water moves too fast for it to freeze over. I found some tracks that I believe are from a rabbit but also could be a squirrel. It was hard to tell because it snowed a little bit on top of the tracks.
December 8th Update
Coming back to my spot, I noticed significantly less green. In november, most of the leaves had already dropped, but there were some trees that still had leaves. Now, the only green that I found was Alder Buckthorn, moss, and Coralberry. The Buckthorn still has some green leaves. The Coralberry has brown leaves as well as some red berries. I also found a singular strawberry plant! The only trace of animals I found was some bird poop on the rocks.
I have really enjoyed this Phenology spot this semester. I found the area really interesting because of the river. I have always been drawn to water because I am from the coast, so sitting next to the river and just listening has reminded me a lot of home. I cannot wait to see this area covered in snow (hopefully) when we return from break, and then the life come back after the winter.
Location of thanksgiving break phenology spot
Seaweed at low tide
Wildwood Beach Phenology Spot
For my phenology spot, I chose the beach at the end of my road at the house I used to live in. This is a very special spot to me because I grew up spending going to this beach, but my Dad moved at the end of this summer so I no longer live next to it. I wanted to come spend some time here because it feels nostalgic and it is very pretty. The environment has a lot of similarities to my phenology spot in Salmon Hole, as both are on the water, but Salmon Hole is freshwater and these beach is saltwater. Many of the trees species are the same, such as the Eastern White Pine and Red Maple. However, the waterfront looks very different. Salmon hole has small shrubs near the water such as Buckthorn, but shrubs do not grow too close to the waterfront at wildwood beach since it is tidal and saltwater. There is lots of seagrass and seaweed species such as Rockweed and Bladderwrack.
Bird’s eye view map
Excuse my subpar art drawing skills
View of the Winooski River
In my first post, the trees lining the river had yellow and orange leaves. Now, they are completely bare aside from a few trees that have not quite lost all their leaves yet.
November 6th Update
Today I spent some time in my spot absorbing the area. The wind was blowing and it had recently rained, but it was still really warm. There was fog coming off the river as well. Most of the trees in the area have dropped their leaves and are almost completely bare. There are very little coniferous trees so there is not a lot of green left. There were a few Norway Maples that still had leaves left.