This week I was unable to get to my phenology spot so I decided to look closer to home and observe the area around my house. I do live in a neighborhood so the extent of animals that we see are cats and dogs, birds, squirrels, and worms. Many of the maple trees in my neighborhood have started to flower and may slowly be breaking out of their buds and beginning their leaf growth. The rain this past weekend will certainly help move this process along. Many of the perennial flowers have also started to come up in the flowerbeds around the neighborhood. In helping my dad identify what type of tree is in our front yard, I identified this Norway Maple tree and made a clipping from it. So far it hasn’t done much since I cut it about four days ago, and it does kinda seem to be dying…
Lots of the other bushes in the area have begin flowering, including our forsythia. The birch trees have very little green on them, although they are starting to begin their processes.
Since I wasn’t able to make it to my phenology spot I used iNaturalist to find out what animals and other organisms had been found in the area of my phenology spot. There were a few different types of birds, lots of fungi, and very few other animals. Because my phenology spot is in between two relatively busy neighborhoods this did not surprise me. I wouldn’t expect to see anything like a bobcat or fisher in this area. It is also important to note that there is no water source nearby, which may also contribute to the lack of larger, more permanent animals.
