Walking back to Centennial Woods after the long winter break, it felt like no time had passed. Except that it had, and the telling signs of these changes were evident in the visual ecological changes that had occurred over the developing winter. Phenological changes that had occurred were the loss of leaves and the addition of snow. I think under the snow there may be more natural debris than before because of the presence of twigs and branches poking out of the snow. Animal and human tracks were definitely more evident and easier to see along my walk. The snow highlighted the tracks that were before hidden by mud and leaves. The snow also covered up the shorter shrubs and herbaceous plants that were visible at my site prior to snowfall.
There is a northern red oak in my spot, which I got an up close photo of the bark. The deep grooves of the bark contrasted against the snow in an interesting way.
I also saw some tracks that were not very defined, but I thought could be squirrel tracks since they led to the base of the northern red oak tree.
Overall I am excited to start our new unit with animal tracking and to observe the winter phenological changes our sites will go through!