{"id":1,"date":"2020-10-11T19:54:39","date_gmt":"2020-10-11T19:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/mkegan\/?p=1"},"modified":"2021-05-12T14:40:03","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T18:40:03","slug":"hello-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/mkegan\/2020\/10\/11\/hello-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock Point –> Centennial Woods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Map of Rock Point<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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To get to my specific phenology spot at Rock Point from my dorm on Trinity Campus, I walked to the bus stop in front of the Waterman Building. I then took the bus to Rock Point High School and walked to the trail entrance, which is next to the entrance to North Beach. I walked through trails in the area until I reached the area of Rock Point where we had our lab. I went to the far right end of the rocky shore area and chose that section for my phenology project, including part of the forest area next to it and in the large crack between the Dunham dolostone and Iberville shale. Getting to this area by bus takes a little bit under an hour, and getting there by walking takes a bit more than an hour.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

October 11, 2020<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The lake-level area of my spot is a beach made up of small pieces of limestone and Iberville shale and large chunks of Dunham dolostone.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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On the Iberville shale area of the spot below the forest, you can see the roots of Green Ashes, Paper Birches, Yellow Birches, and Northern White Cedars hanging over shale from the thin soil layer. There is little vegetation in this area other than occasional herbaceous plants and baby trees.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Some of trees are able to grow out of the side of the cliff in cracks in and between the shale and dolostone layers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Vegetation such as grasses and small, leafy herbaceous plants and flowers can also grow in these cracks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This bush, which I have yet to identify, is the most common plant growing on the rocky shore.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Next to this area of the rocky shore is part of the forest made up mostly of Northern White Cedars and has small amounts of grasses and some moss on some of the larger rocks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A small, steep walk up this area of the forest gets you on level with the large crack between the shale and the dolostone. There is no vegetation growing in this location, but small trees are growing in the rocks above and below it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bird’s-Eye View Map of Rock Point<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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October 23, 2020<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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October 23: Trees are beginning to loose leaves. Some trees still have yellow\/orange leaves. Few noticeable signs of wildlife using Rock Point as a habitat other than seeing squirrels and chipmunks. I could also hear birds, but other than this I didn’t see any tracks, nests, or other forms of wildlife using the area.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rock Point Event Map<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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November 8, 2020<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The weather started out cloudy and a little windy, and then cleared up and became very warm and sunny!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stony Brook<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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My phenology spot is a stream called Stony Brook in a small forest that is between my high school and a park near my house. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Stony Brook forest area is similar to Rock Point in that they are both bodies of water surrounded by forest. However, Stony Brook is a small stream rather than a large lake and the forest is immediately around it rather than separated by a beach and cliff. Stony Brook has a herbaceous layer with grasses, shrubs, and small plants, as well as an understory with young trees. Rock Point doesn’t have much in terms of shrubbery or grasses in the beach area, and in the forested area, it has slightly more, but still not much due to the high winds coming off the lake. While the trees in Rock Point and the Stony Brook forest are different, I saw some trees such as the Sugar Maple and Black Cherry which we can also find in Vermont. The trees have almost completely dropped their leaves here, so the ground is covered in brown leaves. The stream level was somewhat high compared to how I usually see it, but it had rained here a couple days before so that made sense. Beyond the sound of the stream water running, I could hear the sound of bird calls and cars on a nearby road. I saw a lot of birds, a few squirrels, and a painted turtle! I was surprised to see the turtle because painted turtles tend to go into hibernation in October, but because the weather has been of above-average warmth I guess the turtles may not all have gone into hibernation yet. I named him Vincent (because he’s a painted turtle)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vincent!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stony Brook Trails Human History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Stony Brook Trail connects three different preserved areas: The J. Seward Johnson Preserve, Greenway Meadows, and the Stony Brook Trail Corridor. It also connects to the Woodfield Reservation, another preserved area, via another connecting trail. The trail is about two miles long and runs along the Stony Brook stream. It also has a pedestrian bridge that was built using federal, state, county, and local funds. The trail was made by the Princeton Township Engineering Department and the Friends of Princeton Open Space. The trail was planned in 1995 as a way to make a loop trail around Princeton. It took multiple years of planning and negotiating to bring the plan to life, and the trail was finally finished and dedicated in October of 2010, although it had already been constructed in part in prior years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Map of Centennial Woods<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How To Get There<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To get to Centennial Woods from my dorm in Harris I walked towards UVM Rescue and passed it to get to the site’s entrance. I went left at the first two forks in the main path and then went down the lower path after the evergreen clearing. I continued on this path alongside the stream and picked a spot with a couple fallen trees to sit on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The most prominent tracks throughout my phenology spot and the path that led to it were human tracks. Countless shoe prints were embedded in the snow, even some smaller prints from children. There were tire tracks along the path from a bike as well. I could hear the calls from the remaining smaller birds that didn’t migrate south for the winter in the trees above and even heard a bird that sounded like it was beeping. There was also a lot of urine in the snow that was a clear sign that animals were present recently. I didn’t see any signs of amphibians due to the time of year and I didn’t see any scat that I could’ve used to help determine species. I saw a few trees with their outer layer of bark stripped, which leads me to believe there are porcupines living in the area because they eat the tree bark. Many of the animal tracks were hard to make out, and I couldn’t decipher what the clearest one was! The track was by the path alongside the packed down snow so that was the only one I was clearly able to make out. It only had three clear toes but I quickly realized it was probably a four-toed animal and a slightly messed up track. This track was likely from a dog because it was so close to the path and resembles other dog tracks I’ve seen. I noticed what I assume were deer tracks, but I’m not completely sure. I also saw some other tracks that could’ve been cottontail rabbit tracks and deer tracks. I’m unsure whether or not I saw porcupine tracks. There was a long line of tracks in the snow that seemed to have drag marks from the porcupine’s tail, although it also could’ve been from a person dragging their feet through the snow as they were walking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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March 7: Changing Seasons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An obvious sign of the changing seasons I saw on my walk around Burlington was mud and brown grass where the snow had melted away. There were lots of patches of ground that were completely brown with mud and\/or dead grass, and there were other areas that had green grass that is growing or survived the winter under the snow. Some areas have weeds and small herbaceous plants growing back already! The three pictures below show examples of these descriptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another phenological sign of early March is that Lake Champlain is thawing; ice around some areas of the shore are partially melted and split into chunks, while other areas still have solid, continuous ice. I also noticed very thin, glass-like sheets of ice on other parts of the lake surrounded by completely unfrozen water. There is still a barrier of ice at the edge of the lake in pretty much every area I saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n