The only trees at my spot in centennial with leaves are the evergreens. The red pine and the eastern hemlocks still have their needles, as expected. However, all the deciduous trees have lost their leaves. I don’t think this is much different that the last time I was there. Nevertheless, I do believe some of the leaves have started to decompose. The leaf litter is less fluffy/crunchy (I don’t know how to describe it) and looks like the leaves are starting to incorporate into the soil.
The lack of leaves really opened up the area, revealing the really large open area in my spot. I guess I’ve seen it before but I really noticed it this time. My guess is that the old tree that has fallen in the middle of my spot used to be really big and shaded the majority of my site, making it difficult for smaller trees to grow. This would also explain why several small sugar maples are growing in that area.
As always I saw a woodpecker. However, this is almost the only bird I saw my entire time in centennial. I heard a few chickadees at one point, some geese, and a raven. But other than that I didn’t see any other birds. I assume that many migrated, in class we learned 75% of Vermont’s birds migrate, so most of the birds I heard earlier in the project likely flew south. The whole forest was eerily quiet.
I saw several tracks while I was out in centennial, most I’m assuming were dogs as I saw several people walking their dog, but I also don’t know much about tracks yet. However I did find these tracks. It looks like either a dog or other species was digging, but they overall looked really interesting and really grabbed my attention. My guess is that it was likely wildlife because I don’t think many people want their dogs digging in the woods during a walk.
What I like the most about my phenology spot is that it got me out and gave me a reason to go into the woods. I loved traveling to and from my spot, and even though I have only posted three times about my spot, I went there almost every week. I loved see the woodpeckers and identifying all the trees, no matter how difficult some of them were to ID. This project gave me the opportunity to get out and enjoy the sounds and feelings of the woods. I think that even if this project doesn’t continue next semester, or changes, I’ll try to keep going to my spot and enjoying the woods.