Winter – phenology fieldnotes & blog

April 24, 2025April 24, 2025

February 21st, 2025

Phenology in Greater Burlington!

This month we were asked to explore the greater Burlington area with your NR 1020 friends and observe winter wildlife signs using iNaturalist during the period of February 15 – 24. Around this same time period, my dorm flooded pretty bad and went home for the weekend. Since I wasn’t really able to get out and explore Burlington, this post will focus on some data collected during one of my NR lab periods!

Where are we?

The Calkins Trail at the Intervale Center is a 1.3 mile long trail encompassing the Intervale’s property. Over 1/2 of the trail follows alongside the Winooski River as it enters Burlington.

February 21st was quite a cold, but sunny day, and there was A LOT of snow on the ground. Large snow storms travelling through the North East had just passed through Vermont, leaving behind a thick layer of powdery snow.

iNaturalist & Observations

A big proponent of this lab was tracking! Due to the type of snowfall, it was difficult to decipher many of the tracks we found as they were either coated in a light layer of snow or so deep into the snow that it was really difficult to see them. That being said, there were a ton of tracks! Slightly off the trails covered in cross-country ski tracks, past wildlife activity was visible.

Away from the trail towards the McNeil powerplant, we saw both pileated woodpeckers flying as well as a vibrant cardinal sitting on a fence. Both bird species remain in the eastern US year-round, so it makes sense as to why they were out!

With so many animals found in the greater Burlington area and fluffy snow, identification through tracking was quite difficult. I got hip deep in the snow trying to follow some of the tracks and find a clear imprint on the snow.

I am honestly not very confident with most of my identifications. I made the rookie mistake of not also recording the size of the prints which makes it a bit more difficult. I’m leaving the more clear prints up to the masters on iNaturalist to identify further. I am probably more sure about the bobcat print compared to everything else. It is the most distinct of the bunch and not likely to ultimately just end up being a dog print, because the trails are frequented by dogs. If you have any better suggestions on ID-ing the first 5 prints above, click the photo to get to my iNaturalist observation and suggest something 🙂

January 27, 2025April 29, 2025

January 25th, 2025

Happy New Year!

With NR 1010 behind me, I am now 2 weeks into NR 1020. With the beginning of classes comes the start of the phenology project once more.

I have decided to choose a new location for this semester. Rock Point was a beautiful location, however it became a struggle to bus there, then walk from the bus stop to our selected natural area. The whole ordeal took about 45 minutes, one bus change, and a lot of walking. It was fine when it was warm, but as it grew colder and snowier, the walk became increasingly more dreadful.

My new location is a little ways down the trailhead at Casavant Natural Area in Winooski, VT. It’s about half a mile closer and only takes about 20 minutes to get there from campus (by bus).

This past visit I was lucky enough to drive there with my boyfriend, but the bus route is super accessible as well. Hop on bus 2- Essex Junction to Fort Ethan Allen at the UVM Medical Center loop, then get off at Abenaki Way at CCV. From there, its about a 3 minute walk to the trailhead, 190 E Allen St. It doesn’t look like much of a park from the road, the parking lot is right next to a house and before the railroad crossing. The specific location is about a minute walk down the trail, near the little bridge.

The snow cover has been pretty consistent since winter break, so we found plenty of tracks. There were some birds we spotted overhead, and I was able to record their calls (whether not you can hear them through the wind is debatable).

Tracks and Snow Mysteries! I looked through my little pocket guide to identify what animals walked through here but I am still not super sure what many of these are.

The dominant tree species included black cherry, ash and sumac. I was having a difficult time without being able to see the leaves to properly identify the other trees.

December 8, 2024April 24, 2025

December 8th, 2024

Our final visit to Rock Point for the semester 🙁

It was cloudy, a little chilly, but overall nice. The snowfall was pretty, but the landscape looked very barren.

With a lack of density, you could see right through to the water. Without the leaves, you could really see the vines and woody material scattered on the ground.

There was still some green in the herbaceous, ground cover plants. There weren’t many conifers in my little area, predominantly maples and some other young hardwood species, so there was a significant amount of leaf litter.

There was no visible signs of decomposers or tracks. It’s difficult to find those things since the snow was starting to melt off and there was a lot of plants covering the ground. While not directly in my area, on the walk down to the site, we saw deer! There were 3 just standing there staring at us. A bird flew overhead at one point which was interesting since it’s so cold out.

Oh how the seasons change!

Rock Point has been such a pleasure to visit. I have loved every second I have spent on that property and am so excited to visit again in the spring! I think the part I loved most about my place was the fact that it felt so incredibly wild, even though it was a few minute drive from the heart of downtown Burlington. Being able to look off the trail and into a densely populated ecosystem is just such a beautiful thing.