Since my last visit, my site has become a lot quieter and brighter. The leaves have mostly fallen to the ground, leaving the ground littered more than it was during my last visit. The squirrels presence has decreased. The amount that they are playing and screeching has slowed down so that they can start storing up for the cold long winter ahead of them. I have still seen them chasing each other around though. They are not spending as much time searching for food at my site because there is not an abundance of nuts like there is directly on Trinity campus. There was a snake hole that was easier to see than it was before although I did not see any snakes. During Walt’s lecture on Tuesday, he mentioned what the perfect habitat for a wood pecker would look like and I knew that my site would be the perfect location. There are tons of dead snags and there is not a lot of open canopy so I decided to go back and try to find evidence that wood peckers were in fact present in my site. One of the pictures below I took of a tall snag that has been used by the wood peckers. Every time I enter my site I am just amazing that there is such a beautiful place just outside my dorm that most people would take for granted. The trees feel so large and I have found it a relaxing place to go and forget about all my worries of school and I can watch and laugh at the squirrels so there’s a little entertainment factor as well.

© Miranda Garrow

© Miranda Garrow

© Miranda Garrow

© Miranda Garrow

© Miranda Garrow

The species of woody plants that I have identified at my site have been;

Young Sugar Maple

Paper Birch

Silver Maple

Eastern White Pine

Norway Maple

The vegetation here consists of a lot of new growth in the understory. There are also a significant amount of older trees that are much much larger than the new growth. Growing along side the new woody plants are a lot of ferns. A lot of my site feels dead because there are so many downed limbs and trees that moss have started to consume. With the amount of new growth along the edge of the wooded area where it meets the catamount path, I think the area may have been clear not too long ago because the trees are not very old at all.

To get to my Phenology site, you have to take the path leading the the back 5. As you walk along the back side of Mercy, to the left side of the catamount paw printed walkway, there is a path that leads over the side of the embankment. I chose this as my site for my Phenology project because this is the first place that me and my roommates ventured to during our first week at UVM. We live in the back 5 and on our way back to the dorm noticed this little path. We got curious and wanted to see what it was about. I had not been crazy about living on Trinity campus, but knowing that this special place was right in my back yard made me feel right at home.

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