Monthly Archives: March 2023

Revisiting the Red Maple!

March 27, 2023Uncategorizedogeddes

March 27, 2023

I went to check-in on the red maple that I observed for the last blog post yesterday! It was really nice out and has been warmer here, so I wondered if I would see differences in the buds and the phenological phase of the species. At first glance, it seemed that the tree had not changed much in the last few weeks. There were no bright red flowers or anything yet. However, looking closer at the twigs, I could see that they looked much more red than before, and the buds as well. They were very vibrant, and even seemed like they could be approaching flowering. So while the phase of this species is definitely not fruiting or flowering, I decided to say that it was “minimal flower budding.” I think there were some significant differences from my last visit and a sign that spring is coming!

I saw many other signs that spring is coming around the area! Some trees were fruiting and full of berries, some seemed to be flower budding, and others had some visible leaves among the branches. This is also part of what led me to assume that the maple will be budding fairly soon. I would also say I saw more green and yellow colors throughout different species and plants. Less brown and lack of color than there has been throughout the winter! It was a really nice day and has been somewhat consistently, I really hope that means spring is actually coming, but we never know. Hopefully when I go back to my site I can see some more flowers budding!

Winter Twig Identification!

March 8, 2023Uncategorizedogeddes

March 8, 2023

Today I went back nearby my phenology spot to locate one of the four assigned tree species. The species that I ended up finding and identifying was a Red Maple (Acer Rubrum). I found this tree off of the path on the way to my spot, and I immediately looked up to see what I was pretty sure were the buds of a maple. I was able to identify this tree as a Red Maple specifically because the buds did not have a scent when crushed like a Norway Maple, and they were obviously very red, counting out the Sugar Maple whose buds are brown. Those are the two winter lookalikes for this species.

At first I thought that the tree was fruiting because I saw some berries. But I think there was overlap of a few tree species in some of the branches because of the way the trees were growing out of the ground. Ultimately, I realized that the berries were not from the maple. A lot of the surrounding trees were fruiting though, which I think is an exciting sign of spring!! Looking at the buds, you can see that they are not flowering, so the phenological phase is defined as “no evidence of flowering.” This was recorded in my iNaturalist post as well as the species.