NR 1010 Phenology Project A UVM blog

This is most definitely the most lush I have ever seen with my eyes, and yet the trees are not even fully bloomed yet. The understory, as of right now, is much greener when compared to the overstory. The major landmark that this place holds for me is the log, along with the chair that is always right by it. A minor one would be the second chair, which now appears to be living behind the log. I wonder if the two chairs had beef, and that is why they got separated. The ways that nature and culture intertwine are most definitely found in the litter that is present. Ever since the beginning of the first semester, there has been a jar toward the entrance of the trail for cigarette buds, called “Cigarette Soup”.

I believe that just this small example shows the way that culture specifically college culture and nature have become intertwined. I do consider myself a part of this place, the reason for that is I made some amazing memories with friends that will last a lifetime there.

This picture was taken by Zoe Kessner on September 9th, 2024. Maddie Cook, Maddie Taylor (me), Sage Fiander, Payton Holm, going from left to right. We all met on the first day of being on campus. Next year all of us will be living right across the hall from each other 🙂

This challenge allowed me to explore areas that I had not explored before. The area that I primarily focused on was the waterfront, surprisingly. I also took this opportunity to look closer at the living organisms around my dorm, Trinity Campus. My experience with iNaturalist was really good, besides the fact that it decided to continuously drain my phone battery. I encountered a large number of species, yet I did not catalog all of them, because after a certain point, I wanted it to just be me and nature. I found it interesting that the vast organisms could be found in a relatively small area.

The date on which my phenology walk occurred was April 23rd, 2025. This day was beautiful, it was sunny with not a drop of rain. When I went out on my walk I was able to observe that practically each of the trees were around the same point in their phenophase. There was budding on the tree, yet it was still minimal. Not much color to the trees and the leave are no where to be found.