Unfortunately I missed the Bioblitz because i thought it was continuing through all of last week, not just the previous weekend. So to make up for missing the Bioblitz i decided to go on a walk through Centennial Woods. It was a full circle moment for me and my friend Becky who also came with me. At the very beginning of the first semester the first big outing day with the whole friend group started at centennial. All our new friends came with us to do some tree identification, our first lab assignment in NR. Now we are finishing off our year in Centennial with tree, plant, and track identification.
This excursion through centennial we diverged onto a different path than the one we usually take. We ended up exiting centennial across the street from the Winooski river. We decided to appreciate our watershed and took a nice little break on the bank of the Winooski as we reminisced about our first year in college and how quickly it flew by.
By the river there were a few interesting plants that we used seek to identify and then added to inaturalist. One of the species unbeknownst to me at the time, was fiddleheads. There were a few patches of them growing by the river.
During our walk through Centennial we saw many of our 22 tree species from the first semester. There were red maples, sugar maples, white pines, oaks, beeches, and basswood.
We also saw some interesting ferns going through the “wetland area” called sensitive ferns. Apparently they are very sensitive to frost and as soon as frost touches the leaves it withers up and dies. Its interesting that a plant like that would make its home in Vermont since its such a cold state with a lot of temperature fluctuation.
My favorite foliage to see were the little wildflowers growing in the crevices between stones or roots of trees. I love seeing how some plants can adapt and thrive in the most uncomfortable of looking places. The juxtaposition of a beautiful, delicate flower peeking its way through a rough, solid rock is one of my favorite sights to see in nature. The species I identified were Quaker Ladies.
This year has been so much fun and I have really enjoyed my time in NR 1 and 2. This blog has brought me to so many interesting places and made me really open my eyes and take note of the ecology all around me. I want to continue the tradition of going on a hike every week or so in the summer and identifying plants and animals around me.