I visited my phenology spot this Sunday, 3-24. It had been snowing the entire day prior, so the entire ground was covered in a thick layer of snow. Despite the fresh snow, I did not see any animal tracks. My phenology spot is largely coniferous trees, but I did notice a couple deciduous trees budding. I was listening for bird calls when I was there as well. Sometimes I heard only water, and sometimes I heard birdcall, though it sounded like the bird was rather far away. I only ever heard one bird at a time, but I heard two different species of bird. I compared them to the sounds of our focal bird species, and did not find a match for either birdcall I heard. Overall, the appearance of my site was similar to when I last visited in January. Though the snow was deeper this time, I could tell it was beginning to melt as I could see snow falling off the tree branches and the sun was out. Also, the water in the stream was flowing this visit, whereas last visit the stream was frozen solid. As I was returning to campus, I noticed that a couple trees were fruiting, and there was a bird eating the fruit on one tree – this was the most obvious sign of spring I saw the whole time.
Snow, coniferous trees, and lack of animal tracks
Buds on tree
Bird eating fruit (not at my spot)
Birdcall I recorded and was unable to identify