Returning to my phenology site after a while of not seeing it felt weirdly nostalgic. It’s one of the first places I found on my own and have consistently visited during my first year of college.
It brings be back to early in the summer semester when I was a scared freshman with less than a month of education under her belt. Especially with much of the plant life and wildlife returning to as it was when I first visited.
Visiting this trail has also gotten be really acquainted with the urban community just outside of it. I’ve passed by the residential buildings countless times and have gotten to know a few residents while out on the trail. It serves as a free natural area for the nearby community to utilize. Many residents use it to walk their dogs or to spend a little time in nature. Getting to share this area has been really precious and I’ve begun to feel a lot more connected to the community around it.
These last four days have been crazy, I’ve been going out everyday to document and add to the ever amassing list of species on inaturalist.
On Friday, and my first outing, I went out to Centennial woods. Then I walked over to my phenology site in Winooski and did some observations there.
Saturday I went to the Intervale for an event with friends and had so much fun take observations and walking along the Winooski river.
Me and from non-NR2 students replanting some fiddleheads in the Intervale center!
Finally on Sunday I went back out to Centennial and took a different route. I ended up coming across this hut built out of sticks far into the woods. It felt kind of magical, someplace I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t spending so much time wandering around the woods.
These last four days have been kind of crazy and hectic. It is a mix of feeling competitive about logging species and enjoying the time I’m spend with other participating friends and classmates. It has felt like one big scavenger hunt that has only brought me closer to my friends and to nature.
I’m proud of finishing in third place with around 140 observations. I tried to be competitive but also enjoy my time outdoors and learn about some new wildlife
Part of my daily routine that I’ve developed while at home during breaks is that I take my dog on long hikes around the natural areas around my hometown. I insist on the hours long walks since she doesn’t get out as much when I’m away. This phenology blog has already seen some of these adventures (See Thanksgiving Break). This post however, is not one of those. However, one upside about only being able to walk around my neighborhood is that there is a very beautiful short forested trail that leads to a dammed part of the Nesenkeag Brook that runs by my house. I wish I could get more info on the stream history itself but not much is available. It’s a really beautiful spot and I’m pretty sure the damming is the product of some beavers nearby!
This is the entrance trail to the path! As you can tell from the fallen leaves that the forest is a mix of Red Oaks, White Birches, and Pine. Also pictured is my dog, Millie.
This wetland is the coolest part of the whole site, and it is a result of a dam in the photo to the left. Here is better photo and video of the dam on a different day.
The path follows the stream a little further on and then continues into the forest. Along that path are some beautiful Christmas Ferns.
The existence of this path is kind of ambiguous, since it is between a neighborhood and a senior living community. I think it’s likely it was constructed for access to services for the senior community.
And finally, Millie getting a little too excited around the stream.
I took this window of no-lab week to take a walk down to the waterfront of Champlain Lake to enjoy the view of the somewhat frozen shore I I’d seen a few people talking about online. On my way out of my dorm I wanted to document the high population of American Robins that I’ve seen congregating on Athletic campus as the weather got warmer. Every time I step out of my dorm I’m greeted by these robins chilling out in the barren trees. They seem to be well feed- but are still evasive as soon as I pull out my camera so I’ve been struggling to capture a photo of them. I was lucky enough to get a grainy image that is focused enough to really document one of the birds, and I promptly uploaded it to inaturalist where I’ve been put to shame constantly with my novice bird photography skills.\
For some reason my computer has decided that my bird pictures are too bad to be uploaded so here’s a spoiler of another bird sighting on my walk.
After another humiliation by the campus American Robins I made my way downtown and to the shoreline where the water has frozen over and created a really beautiful landscape. Along the bike path which I followed a all the way to Rock Point there was a ton of track, though it seemed like most of them were from domestic dogs that walkers commonly bring to walk on the path.
I really loved seeing all of the frozen over water. You can sort of see the frozen shoreline in some of my photos and even a frozen stream that drains into the lake in the most recent photo (See above on the right).
And of course my favorite part of this venture was seeing a cardinal in one of the tree along the path.
And finally some more shots of the frozen lake and tracks!
I initially thought returning to the Casavant trail in January would look similar to my last visit around a mouth ago in December. However, I did come across some new developments in the phenology of the site. With all that said, I was very excited for the relaxing walk on the way there.
The most immediate change I noticed was how the Winooski river had mostly frozen over with snow covering most of the surface. However the falls section of the river was still flowing and it was really interesting to see the water flowing in one area and the rest frozen on the surface.
The snow-cover was still the same as when I’d left, but there was a high amount of tracks left behind, particularly rabbit and other small mammal tracks.
In one area I noticed that a small stream still had a flourishing little population of plants, this area hadn’t been frozen or covered in snow since I’ve been documenting these trails.
Further upstream on the Winooski river there was lots of tracks on top of the snow that fell on the surface frozen river.
Just a reference of the entrance stairs, from summer to now.
Just a few more photos to detail what winter looks like on the trail.
For my post highlighting the ecology of a place back home, I wanted to go back and document a place that was instrumental to my passion for the environment. And that is a public park just about fifteen minutes from my house known as Benson Park in Hudson, NH.
It’s difficult to make out, but the park and it’s trails encompass most of the forested area in this image.
My mom would often take me here with my dog and we’d spend countless hours traversing the main park area and the attached forested hiking trails. It’s also a center of community as many picnics, cross country races, and other recreational activities take place there year round. The park has a very interesting history, originally being the place of “Benson’s Wild Animal Farm” which opened in 1924. John T. Benson was an ‘animal trainer and dealer who owned and operated the farm. A lot of animals would come though the zoo to quarantine and then be sent to other zoos or circuses. Around 1987 the zoo closed. Later, according to the town of Hudson’s info page, “The State of New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) purchased the land for approximately $4 million in 1992 as wetlands mitigation to offset various highway projects’ impacts on wetlands. Of the approximately 168 acres of land, about 40 acres of wetlands will be constructed on the property.”. I loved learned about the site, it’s history, and taking long walks to appreciate it’s natural beauty. It was actually the site of a project for my individual AP Environmental Science class last year, which goes to show that I have grown a strong connection and knowledge of the area, which makes it all the more special to myself as an environmental science student.
Some of the enclosures are still up and open for people to explore.
Not to forget my amazing hiking buddy, Millie!
Millie enjoys every second of the hike, including the car ride where she loves to stick her head out the window. Outside of the abandoned gorilla exhibit.It’s really interesting to see the concrete walls in the pictures as opposed to them today. Back then they were surrounded by a concrete path which has been replaced for a grass sidewalk border.
Some of the natural landscape on the paved path that leads to the hiking trails. Much of the open space is lined with pine trees, as well as lots of aquatic life (I.E ducks!) that are often found around the main wetland in the open park, Swan Lake.A map of the trails and park! As you can see there so much to the park, it was difficult to document before the sun set.
To the left and right of this path are more wetlands! Merrill Brook, Bass Pond, and Otter Pond
Photo of Beaver Pond
Millie trying to sample some of the focal species.
As you transition into the hiking paths there is a much higher prevalence of hardwood trees, mostly white oak. However there is still a strong population of Eastern White, Pitch, and Red pines.A much more clear map. This is Millie’s favorite stretch of the hike! She always gets very excited to go down this path as you can tell from the photo.
And finally, a map of the entire hike I took!
The natural ecology of Benson Park and Casavant Nature Trail are actually very similar. They are both within New England and therefore share many species of of plants. The two sights also follow similar phenology cycles, experiencing seasons around the same time and severity. However, the presence of wetlands such as ponds and lakes at Benson Park far outnumbers Casavant, which loops around one singular lake. There is also a much higher abundance of pine trees in Benson which do not exist in my phenology site. I also do not witness many native animal species while walking through Casavant, but I often encounter wildlife in Benson Park. As pictured above, there is a high population of ducks that live around the wetlands. I have also seen beavers, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and snakes in abundance at Benson Park. Both sites sit very close or on developed urban lands, particularly busy roads.
It takes about 40 minutes to get to the trailhead from my dorm, so on a warmish Wednesday I took some time to hike down. I get to walk through most of campus, past Trinity, and into downtown Winooski to get to the trail. Below is the event map I made of some of the nature moments I noticed on my way down.
The view of the Winooski Falls/ Winooski River from the bridge!
As Halloweekend rolled around I took a break from busy life at school to travel over to the Casavant trail. I was excited to get to a place where I knew I was going to get time to reconnect and remind myself what I’m doing here at UVM. I traveled down the slightly steep trail to a place right in the middle of my site and sat. The whole fifteen minutes passed quickly, I feel quickly into a sort of meditation as the wind rustled the leaves and the sounds of cars passing faded into the background. It was a really grounding experience to get away from everything and just buckle into nature.
Sketch of my site.
Most of the changes I witnessed fall in line with what to expect from the fall season rolling in. The colors of leaves turning into bright yellows, and reds. Some leaves have already turned brown and crispy, and some have already fallen to the ground, creating a cover of dead crunchy leaves.
