In the midst of the City Nature Challenge, my friends and I decided to explore the local phenology of Redstone Woods near (and on) our campus. We visited Sunday (May 2nd). The day was gorgeous with a sunny chill about it. While exploring the woods, we noted the vibrant understory full of saplings and tall grasses along with various shrubs. Some noted species we observed were Glossy and Common Buckthorn, Fragrant Sumac, Eastern White Pine, American Hophornbeam, and Dandelion. It was interesting to observe the salient tree species in the woods as the area showed signs of recent disturbance. The Overstory was populated with a significant number of White and Northern Red Oak trees. There were a few other tree species we could not successfully identify using iNaturalist. It is worth noting that iNaturalsit was very useful in identifying the species of shrubs and budding saplings.
After checking the site for the City Nature Challenge, I was interested by the city data breakdown. Some cities had little to no observations while others teemed with participants. It made me wonder what caused this deviation to occur (maybe cell service, financial and physical access, location, geography, politics, etc.).
