January; Endurance

My phenology site is the same location as the first semester. It is a retention pond located in between the Redstone Lofts and Wing Davis Wilks Hall. Before leaving in December I saw many changes through the months of Fall. Often times during my visits, I would see a cottontail rabbit and a pair of mallard ducks on the pond. Now during January, I have seen no evidence of the mallards nor cottontail. It’s no surprise that the mallards aren’t there anymore because they migrate, however, cottontails are active during January and I was surprised to not even spot any tracks. According to Naturally Curious, January is a month of endurance and active mammals must rely on food caches (Holland, 2010). This might mean that the cottontail may have moved to another area where its food caches were stored. While visiting, I did happen to hear the call of a black-capped chickadee and I found galloper tracks belonging to a gray squirrel according to the Mammal Tracks and Scat Life-Size Pocket Guide (Levine, 2014). I was also able to identify several tree buds including paper birch, basswood and sugar maple using the Winter Twig Identification handout (Watts, 1943). Compared to early December, the site has a thicker and more packed base of snow. The entire surface of the pond is also frozen.

Figure 1. Galloper tracks with a 4.5 cm length hind foot and 11 cm straddle. According to the Mammal Tracks and Scat Life-Size Pocket Guide, this indicates that the tracks belong to a gray squirrel.
Levine, Lynn. (2014). Mammal Tracks and Scat Life-Size Pocket Guide. Heartwood Press. (5).
Figure 2. A twig from a paper birch identified with alternate buds, light grey bark, reddish buds and catkins.
Figure 3. Sketch of paper birch twig. Labeled with Winter Twig Identification handout.
Watts, May Theilgard. (1943). Winter Twigs.
Fig 4. January field notes

Holland, Mary. (2010). Naturally Curious. Trafalgar Square.

Levine, Lynn. (2014). Mammal Tracks and Scat Life-Size Pocket Guide. Heartwood Press. (5).

Watts, May Theilgard. (1943). Winter Twig Identification.