A UVM blog Mae’s Phenology Blog

This past weekend I made one last trip to my phenology site in Centennial Woods. Located right off campus and a peaceful escape for many students, faculty, and Burlington residents, this is an areas where nature and culture intertwine. As we have learned this year, our actions impact all natural areas especially ones located close to human development. Due to Centennial’s close proximity to campus, it is our job to make sure this area continues to be a thriving natural area for animals and people.

These are pictures of the same area from October – May. During my most recent visit I noticed some young trees beginning to bud and low level vegetations beginning to sprout from the ground. From now on I will consider myself a part of this area as well as this area being a part of me. I’ve grown very fond of my walk down to Centennial Woods and will continue to visit here over the next 3 years and I’m excited to see how it changes!

This is a species interaction diagram including 7 species commonly found in Centennial Woods. The species listed are: Pileated Woodpecker, Carpenter Ant, Eastern White Pine, Eastern Hemlock, Eastern Cottontail, White Tailed Deer, and grass.

For the City Nature Challenge I explored Centennial Woods. I also went downtown to Church Street and observed species but did not log anything during that trip. Using iNaturalist was a bit challenging to figure out how to join the NR2 project and uploading species that I was unsure of. I do not have a total count of species I encountered but there were a lot!! I was not surprised that dandelions were the most observed species globally however, Mallards being the second most observed was surprising! I guess I need to keep an eye out for ducks.

---

These were some species I identified!

I explored centennial woods! I saw a bunch of Robins eating from the crab apple trees on my way there and a few crows. In order of posting I believe these tracks are: bobcat, mink?, unsure but the track pattern looked like a pacer, and a rabbit. The app couldn’t identify the tracks – they weren’t very distinct because of the melted snow, but it was really cool to see all the other postings!

• 

• 

• 

• 

This was my first time seeing my phenology site with snow on the ground! There was less snow underneath all the pine and hemlock trees which probably makes this area a good place for smaller animals to travel through. Mostly everything looks the same except the river was much lower and frozen over but there are a few leaves on the oak tree that look like they’re still hanging on!

I spotted a few tracks around my site. The double footed tracks I think are from rabbits but I have no idea what the single tracks in a straighter line would be. Excited to learn more (:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

My most recent trip to my phenology site! Unfortunately I was not able to visit my site while there was snow on the ground so I did not see any animal tracks. However, I found some possible areas where animals may be storing food or building a home for the winter. The coniferous trees have not changed much, but all of the hardwood species have lost their leaves.

• 

• 

• 

• 

My walk to Lake Champlain!

Update!

Not much has changed since I visited last however, the oak tree (species of oak now under investigation) by the stream is a bright yellow! I am going to try and take a picture from the same spot every time to compare changes more easily. The stream was much higher after all the rain this weekend and I spotted a new mushroom. I don’t expect a ton of change with the coniferous trees but it will be interesting to see how they young ones hold up in the snow.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Map of My Site

Vegetation

This area is mainly surrounded by mature Eastern White Pine and Eastern Hemlock trees along with a few Sugar Maple and Red Oak trees by the stream. There is not any low vegetation except for some ferns but there are some mushrooms (: I can’t wait to see what animals make a home out of the fallen trees!

Centennial Woods

For my phenology site I chose Centennial Woods. I chose this location because its right off campus and such a lovely spot to explore! In order to get there, enter by the UVM sign on Catamount Drive and go straight at the first two clearings. It’s about a 5 minute walk until you reach my spot and you will see a bunch of fallen trees with the stream on your left.