05/05/2023 During the four-day BioBlitz challenge, I explored the life on campus. I found many plants around Harris Millis and the surrounding fields. I tagged many trees as cultivated/captive, which posted them to iNaturalist but did not count them towards the City Nature Challenge. I had ten species that were included in the CNC. I …
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Final Phenology Post 04/21/23
The effects of the warm spring weather were apparent at my phenology spot. There were large buds and small leaves all over the woods. Understory grassed and plants were springing back to life. I encountered a group of people who were observing moss, and they showed me swarms of male bees of varying species. Some …
Phenology 04/10/2023
It was a very sunny and warm day when I revisited my spot. There was lots of bird activity, including cardinals and woodpeckers. I could not distinguish any differences in the bud from last time to this time. It may have grown in size somewhat but I am not sure. As the weather continues to …
Phenology 03/22/23
I visited my phenology spot on Wednesday afternoon. The weather was warm and sunny, and it felt very springlike even with the trail being covered in snow. There was a lot of black-capped chickadee activity as well. The bud of the Northern Red Oak was larger than last time, and had more of a rounder …
Bud Identification: March 3rd, 2023
I went to centennial woods this Friday and visited by phenology spot. It was a warm and sunny day, perfect for some identification. I saw a young tree by the trail and looked at the buds. It had opposite branching, so it could have not been a maple and was probably an oak. The buds …
Burlington Wildlife Signs 02/12/2023
I travelled deeper into Centennial Woods with some friends on 02/12/23 to see what animal signs we could encounter in this urban wild. I encountered a lot of Black Capped Chickadees, but failed to encounter a clear image of one. One chickadee stopped to preen just a few feet from us, which was really captivating. …
January 20th Visit: Snow Day!
The last time I had visited my phenology spot, there was no snow. Today, I visited during a snowstorm. There were several inches of snow on the ground already. It was fairly warm, so the snow was thick and some of it was melting. Because the snow was actively falling, only the freshest footprints were …
12/9/2022: Final Visit of Fall Semester
Plant Changes This was my last visit of the semester. It was seasonably chilly, but pleasant and sunny. The foliage was similar to last time, but almost all leaves had been blown off the trees, except for a few red oak leaves that are still holding on. The fall foliage that was on the forest …
Home Phenology
I chose to visit the woods behind my house and walk to the powerline clearing there. As a kid, we called it “Blueberry Paradise”, because the clearing provided conditions that allowed a huge field of wild blueberries to thrive. This place is personally special to me because I have a lot of childhood memories exploring …
Phenology November 7th
It was nice to head back to my spot. I took a seat on the footbridge for my five senses observations. Sight: I saw a few little fish in the water, and saw the water swirling around the rocks. I saw red and yellow bittersweet berries. I saw some ticks that crawled on me!! (I …