Hello again!

On Wednesday, I visited the Burlington waterfront to get a different perspective on the phenology of Burlington. It was a chilly day with cloudy skies, and there were not many people out and about. However, I did see many human footprints along with bike paths and dog tracks.

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I also found two other animal tracks. Though I’m not quite sure what the first one was exactly because some of the snow blew into the track making it hard to see its details. However, I think it belongs to some kind of small mammal. The other track belongs to a rabbit. I tried to follow its track, but it got lost when it crossed the bike path.

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While I was over by the bike path I noticed very interesting looking buds on a tree. I tried to identify it with the winter twig identification sheet but I couldn’t find one that matched. Some of the other trees in the area still had leaves on them (though brown in color). In addition, the other plants on the ground were all brown, still in their winter stage.

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After walking around the bike path, I went over to the waterfront. On the way I noticed that under the snow, the ground was completely covered with ice; it was almost like walking on a natural ice rink. There was a lot of ice on the water as well. Ducks and seagulls were seen resting on it. I also heard some birds chirping in the distance and watched as a few hawks flew over the water.

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I remembered that during our Echo lab we walked around the park near the Rubenstein laboratory and that there were a few bird houses in the trees back there. I had hoped that I’d be able to see some birds taking shelter there, but unfortunately there were no signs of any activity.

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I really enjoyed walking around the Burlington waterfront, and I’m very excited to observe the phenological changes that spring will bring in the near future.