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Site Visit – 2/28/20

Qualls, O. 2020. The Woods.

My site was quiet, a cloudy 25 degrees Fahrenheit, it had just finished snowing the hour before. Most tracks previously left were covered over by the snow and only vague nearly unidentifiable tracks remained within the snow. One such example, is the grey squirrel. According to Sciencing Magazine in an article posted by scientist Jenny Green about the various types of squirrels in North America and their winter habits, that the grey squirrel hoards nuts and berries for when food is scarce (Green 2019). They have the ability to smell buried food, even if buried below 30 cm of snow and soil. Similarly, Green discussed how these squirrels will disappear into their dens for several days if there is severe weather conditions.

Qualls, O. 2020. Squirrel Print?

Due to the added snow, most of the original prints from earlier in the day had become covered up. This made it incredibly difficult to track any animals. Squirrel’s make dens known as Dreys, these are often in knots or holes of trees (AnimalSpot). Due to the densely wooded area, they have high activity within this site of Centennial. I have seen them leap from tree to tree, more so in the fall of 2019, as they were more active in warmer weathers. The image below shows a dead tree, which would offer good squirrel habitat for potential Dreys, especially in severe winter weather.

Qualls, O. 2020. Potential Dreys.

Grey squirrels are the prey of many animals, including hawks, owls, skunks, foxes, etc. Their agility and climbing abilities allow them to escape these predators, primarily ground based predators like foxes and skunks. They also could be attacked by domestic dogs, as many are bred for hunting other smaller animals that are similar to squirrels.

Qualls, O. 2020. Trail with dog and human prints.

In the image above, along the left side, several dog prints are visible in the snow. Dogs very well could chase squirrels, especially with how common both species are within the woods. One introduced as a pet, the other native to the area.

Qualls, O. 2020. Snowy Woods.

The rest of the site was similar to my last visit, still covered in snow with little to no foliage, not much has changed. I was unsurprised as January and February have similar climates and weather patterns. I assume that come march there will be greater changes a foot within the area.

Qualls, O. 2020. Field Notes.

Work Cited

Eastern Gray Squirrel. (n.d.). Retrieved February 29, 2020, from https://www.animalspot.net/eastern-gray-squirrel.html

Green, J. (2019, June 12). How Does a Squirrel Survive in the Winter? Retrieved from https://sciencing.com/squirrel-survive-winter-4612243.html

January 31st, 2020

Qualls, O. 2020. Pathway to Site

The site in January is beautiful, path marked in well worn treads of ice and golden brown leaves curled dry in the snow. The high contrast of dark bark against white snow isolates each tree as its own individual, no longer an undergrowth of brown and green against brown and green the snow steals the camouflage that once dominated the forest floor. This allows for usually unnoticed details to stand out, specifically animal tracks and deciduous tree twigs. Within the site itself there are three deciduous trees I have identified, sugar maple, yellow birch, and striped maple. All of these drop twigs that are clearly visible on the snow.

Qualls, O. 2020. Field Notes.

In the image above, I identify the several deciduous trees within my site as well as categorize the various parts of a Sugar Maple Twig. Identified through its opposite branching, brown buds on a brown bark twig, and the pointed bud not present on other maples from the same area.

Qualls, O. 2020. Ferns in Snow

The small ferns still growing are some of the few pieces of green life within my site, resilient through the recent snow. Faintly visible in the bottom right of the image are the foot prints of a gray squirrel. This squirrel would have jumped from the tree besides the path onto the log on which the ferns grow.

Qualls, O. 2020. Tracks in the Snow.

Whatever tracks were left from animals have since been overrun with tracks from hikers boots, however several twigs are visible within the photo surrounded by leftover dead underbrush poking through the snow. January’s effect on the local wildlife is drastic, many creatures and plants have since retreated until the coming spring.

Qualls, O. 2020. Fallen Branches.
My street after the leaves changed

My hometown of Haddonfield, New Jersey, is odd in its seclusion. Despite only being a ten minute drive from Philadelphia it feels separated from the rest of the world, its sense of place influenced heavily by its reputation as a small town. A common phrase in my town is “The Haddonfield Bubble”, it is hard to explain, but everything is cut off there. There is little to no crime in my hometown, and everything just moves slower there. Due to being considered a historical town not much can change architecture wise, it requires quite a few permits and legal work to even be considered and on top of that any changes made must be within specific guidelines that maintain the historical integrity of the era of the building. The history within my town feels like home to me, the main street comprised of brick buildings and wrought iron fences. Even my house feels old, wooden steps creaking and resting on land that once lay on the town founder’s pastures.

My House this past February

The high school was built in dedication to the first world war, its field was once an encampment of German hired soldiers during the Revolutionary War, New Jersey became a state in the old Tavern on main street, and the first recognized dinosaur fossil was discovered in tar pits five minutes from my house. Our town has a lot of pride in its past and in itself.

I really do love my town, but I sometimes find myself loathing it. The culture is steeped in a “not my kid” mentality. Kids do morally wrong things and get away scot free because of their athleticism and how they have always seemed to be a good kid in the past. It is dangerous to raise people to think that they can be cruel and not face consequences for their actions. Haddonfield struggles with this, specifically, during my junior year of High School a boy on the lacrosse team called a girl from a neighboring town the n-word during a game. Some of the boys on the team would not fess up who did it and so the season was canceled. No one apologized to the girl. Another time an unknown middle schooler pooped on the floor and wrote swastika’s on the bathroom wall with it. Not everyone is cruel, but the meanness that pervades is there, soaked in the bottom like a disgusting mold slipping through cracks. There was ineffective conversation from the school administration regarding the hate crimes, they attempted school wide diversity training but the conversation never went as deep it should have. It barely scratched the surface of Haddonfield’s problems. Many of the students banded together against the disgusting actions of those in the community who wished to spread hate, which did strengthen the education of those growing up in the area regarding ignorance and prejudice.

Despite the disturbing actions of those within my community, I liked living there. Most if not all of my friends grew up near my house. I spent summers with my sister walking to and from the ice cream shop.

Driving home from school with my sister and her friend

We had lemonade stands and created obstacle courses in our backyards. In the winter we sled on the old Quaker cemetery, after pulling each other down the iced streets with our toboggans.

Winter by Hopkin’s Pond

Halloween meant trick or treating on Hawthorne Avenue, where there was a house that gave out cider and donuts.

Halloween 2011: Chloe (alien), Haley (Purple masked man?), and I (Banana)

I even walk to the library everyday in the summer. Haddonfield really is beautiful, it is home to me, but it has a darker side. A side fueled by white privilege and “holier than thou” attitudes, and that needs to be addressed when truly thinking about the sense of place my town exudes.

Site Visit 11/12/19

The forest is quiet after the snowfall, the crunching of snow under boots mark one of the few noises punctuating the stillness. The atmosphere of this wintery scene is decidedly different from several weeks back. Now the soil is no longer visible, nor are the logs covered in moss. Only the soft outlines of their shapes remain, despite this heavy cover some life pokes through. Ferns stoop over the snow half-caught, some of the snow shrugged off their still green leaves, so that the sun may still hit them.

The Fern’s leaves drooping from overnight snowfall
Woody plant sticking out of snow

Hailing from New Jersey, it’s odd to me to have this much snow in November, where if it snowed in late autumn it was half sleet turned ice at dawn. The snow forces the landscape into uniformity, trails begin to merge together one to the right mirrors her opposite on the left. If I had not visited two-three times prior I would find myself painfully lost, each tree stand having looked like the last. The site was not a non-place by no means, it had become a separate place. The snow made the site ancient, humanity had not touched it save for the thin path perpendicular to the slight slope.

The Eastern White Pine

The towering pine stood for a long time and seemed it would always stand in that place. Winter changed the site not just ecologically, but in its atmosphere. Centennial was no longer a part of campus, but seemed far away. Roads and society disappeared as trees towered and the snow crunched underfoot.

Base of pine and shrubbery

It could be any decade, any century in the woods. The snow blanketed humanity’s cosmetic changes, most specifically litter. The one grounding element back to the modern world being carvings on trees, showing people that had journeyed into the wood before you.

Field Notes

Site Visit 11/1/19

My site is a very rich and dense area, filled with trees and thick underbrush. It lies a little ways down the trail past two tree stands and a leftmost trail in a fork.

Site Map

The six organisms that I found and identified included:

  • Gray Squirrel or Sciurus Carolinensis
  • Eastern White Pine or Pinus Strobus
  • White Oak or Quercus Alba
  • Hay-Scented Fern or Dennstaedtia Punctilobula
  • American Beech or Fagus Grandifolia
  • Earthworm
Hay-Scented Ferns and Log

These species indicate a variety of plant life and small woodland animals. They are common across the northeastern United States, as they are common within cooler forests that experience seasonal changes. The one coniferous tree in the area is a very tall Eastern White Pine, that is the oldest tree within the site. The vegetation is mostly low lying ferns and small shrubbery. The ferns rest upon the soil and logs, and along the path. There are little to no grasses within the area. The earthworm was active due to the heavy rainfall in the past few days, as the moist soil is their favored conditions.

Changing leaves and Trail Site

Most of the trees within the site have lost their leaves and the ground is covered in various leaf litter piles, which will aid the soil as it decomposes. There are various logs that have some more moss since my last visit, I think I will bring a ruler next time to measure the amount of coverage to see if it changes week to week. The soil was very moist, and feels like clay and silt. It is dense and muddy due to all of the rain. On my way through the woods to my site I noticed just how much the river itself had raised throughout the flooding. It was such a noticeable difference that it through me off when walking to my site, as I thought that I had come to the wrong trail and had to retrace my steps completely. The erosion did not effect my site’s topography, besides a now slippery trail.

My friend Amelia
Valley with now dried underbrush

Site Visit 10/21/19

Time: 2:00pm

Date: October 21st, 2019

Weather: 57 degrees and sunny

When you enter Centenniel woods stick left, on each trail that opens up stay towards the leftmost trail. You will walk past one or two small wooden bridges, until you begin to pass a small valley. The valley will have an abandoned tent, pass the tent and the next clearing will be my locationThe trail sits midway upon an incline, right around a small bend that opens up to trees. The bend sits opposite an even steeper incline across a small valley of open brush. The brush has dried from the cooling autumn temperatures since my first visit when it had sprouted goldenrod and tall plant stalks I could not identify. The forest floor is littered in fallen leaves, pinecones, and pine needles.

View of the Trail #1
View of the Trail #2
Just off of the Trail down the slope

Just beyond the trail lay a tree that has since been cut into separate pieces so it could be moved off of the trail easily. Seen in the image below are two drawings from my field notebook, the top image is of a branch from one of the ferns on the trail and the bottom image is of a piece of log that had its own ecosystem growing on the bark.

Drawings from Field Notebook

The trees consistent of Striped Maple and White Pines, as well as a species with red berries that I have yet to identify. The place is incredibly small and there is little to no space to sit, but you can spread a jacket or small blanket on the incline to observe the opposite view. The leaves are changing quickly in the small valley from greens to golds, oranges, and bright reds. They are beautiful in their vibrancy. This small place is unlikely in its showiness, but offers a frame of the local fall change and its foliage.

A view into the neighboring area and bright fall leaves
Another angle of varying foliage colors

The sun filters through in leaf patterns on the soil and underlying plants offering some light to the lower plants that fill in the open space below the towering pine. The pine is easily the largest tree on the site with branches that move upwards in a spiral reaching outwards, its own needles pepper the ground which softens your steps.

Pine from below
Field Notebook

Welcome!

Hi this is Reese Qualls! The place I chose for my phenology assignment is a beautiful field of goldenrod in Centenniel Woods. I am excited to observe and record the various seasonal changes the area will experience 🙂

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