Lucas' Centennial Woods Phenology Project

It was bittersweet visiting my Phenology Spot for the last time this semester. I saw military helicopters flying over today while walking around Centennial Woods. The foliage has pretty much all fallen besides the ferns and pine needles. Surprisingly the leaves covering the ground have stayed fairly consistent but are definitely starting to decompose. My friend and I found a millipede today and heard birds singing in the trees. I was able to capture the sound it was making but not the bird itself. The moss also has gotten much more vibrant in color since I last came here. I found a couple mushrooms hidden under the leaves after slipping slightly on the ground. I also ran into someone who was adding more spraypaint to my Phenology spot which was interesting. I’d love to see that wall get restored back to how it was, without all the color on it because I feel like it makes a normally peaceful area feel very busy. What I have enjoyed the most about my Phenology Spot is seeing the contrast between the greenery of ferns and moss and the barren leaveless trees. I have also loved having somewhere I can go to practice photography without any other noise or distractions. It has been so fun getting outdoors and I keep finding myself not wanting to leave once I’m out there. I’m definitely starting to feel a sense of place.

White Oak (Quercus Alba)

Paper Birch (Betula Papyrifera)

I noticed an increase in moss on the trees, less shrubbery, and that the trees which someone had lined up to make a shelter on the concrete had been removed by someone.

It was great to see a new area and to learn about what he had been observing and what he thought about the woods and this project. We also ran into an owl which was amazing because a few weeks ago I had been talking about how long it had been since I’d seen one. His site is shown in the three middle photos. It was much more cleared out than mine with more shrubbery and supposedly beavers nearby, though we didn’t see any.

Here are a few photos I took when visiting Quinn Bransfield’s Phenology Site:

This week, I was back home in Philadelphia for Thanksgiving. The place I chose to go to was Lake Nockamixon. My hometown friends and I hiked around the park, exploring all the different rock climbing locations created on the massive boulders that litter the landscape. We saw lots of Oak and Maple trees and unlike my Phenology spot in Centennial woods, there were no evergreen trees. All the trees at Lake Nockamixon had lost their leaves. Also, I saw almost no shrubbery at Nockamixon, which again varies from my Vermont Phenology spot. It makes me wonder what processes caused that. I’d also love to learn more about how the root systems of the forest navigate the rocks everywhere. I didn’t end up leaving a gift but I did climb one of the rocks which to me felt like a way of honoring the spot and area.Overall it was a great time getting to explore somewhere else and to look at it from a place of curiosity, instead of what I usually do which is just passively hike. I hope to go back there and rock climb some of the boulders and further explore how such massive pieces of rock formed there, and hopefully not get lost next time.

https://www.bing.com/maps?q=haycock+mountain+lake&FORM=HDRSC7&cp=40.488086%7E-75.212135&lvl=13.6