When visiting my phenology place for the first time in a month, I was expecting the trees that still had leaves at my last visit to have dropped them, but a few were still hanging on. There were some American Beech surrounding my spot that held onto a few green and yellow leaves, but it is much less lush than it was in the fall.
The Eastern Hemlock trees in my tree circle also continue to hold onto their leaves, providing a pop of green in an otherwise pretty colorless spot.
As a lot more of the trees lost their leaves in the last month, there was a significant increase in leaf litter on the ground. It had also just rained when I went to visit my spot, so a lot of the leaves were damp and had been pressed into the ground.
I hadn’t previously observed animal activity in my spot, but I paid close attention this time and noticed a few things that could be related to animal activity. There was a circular hole in the ground about the size of a baseball that could be shelter for an animal. I also noticed potential signs of human activity, like large sticks being set up on the trees in the circle and some lichen and moss arranged in a particular way.
I have really enjoyed coming back to my spot every few months and seeing how it changes. One of my favorite things about it is that it is off the main path a bit, so it’s very quiet. There is a rock in the middle of the tree circle that is perfect to sit on and you can observe multiple parts of the woods from there. I’m excited to see how it changes once we get more snow and colder temperatures. Till next year!
