A UVM blog Redstone Quarry Phenology Project

What. A. Year. It is crazy to think how much has changed from the first day I visited the Redstone Quarry. I remember not being sure if I was on private property and sitting by the pond and sketching plants. Since then, I have gone back, both for purpose of this class and for fun. I have shown this beautiful little spot to some wonderful people and they now love it too.

During my most recent visit, the place looked the most alive I have ever seen it. Everything was so full and lush. I saw so many types of mosses and shrubs. You know summer is coming because there were bugs again.

This spot is a little strange because of its location. It is long and narrow and runs along a cliff behind peoples’ backyards. It is so close to people that it feels very a part of human life. There are kids playing nearby, lots of people come there to sit, or simply walk their dogs. At the same time, it still feels untouched to an extent. It is not a park. Nothing was planted intentionally. This spot was a quarry, so it is beautiful how nature has reclaimed it.

There is something so special about visiting the same spot over and over again. I feel like most of my time in nature has been scattered. Maybe I visit one place one week, and another the next. Always traveling makes things feel fragmented. I love that I got to know this little piece of land so well, because I feel like I really got to know her. The land feels like a friend that I have watched change and grow as I has changed and grown.

As I have gotten to know my spot, my spot has gotten to know me. I feel welcomed when I go there, not by a person, but my the songs of birds and a little wood bridge. The massive weeping willow tree feels wise and caring. She watches over the life below her and nurtures it. Her roots hold the swamp together and he branches make the swamp worth saying in. I love that I have found so much comfort in the shadow of a cliff and I can not wait to return again.

I think the City Nature Challenge is an amazing event because of how successful it has been at gathering data and getting people outside. It is amazing for bringing people together from around, without being physically together in these times of a pandemic. Unfortunately, I do not have a phone that allows me to post on iNaturalist, but I still explored some of the beautiful urban nature around us.

For my explorations during the time period, I went to a few cool places, the first being Centennial Woods. My friend and I went there and sat in the grass near a water reservoir. Everything felt so alive. The most memorable observation was seeing a duck fly.

The next place I went was to the Winooski River. It was my birthday so I wanted to chill outside. I went with some friends and we went to the same bridge we walked under for our lab. This time we came prepared and jumped in the river. We saw a black cormorant.

The final place I went was by the water reservoir near Redstone Campus. There is a spot I like to sit and look our over both the natural and manmade ecosystems. This is where I saw my most memorable observation: a baby fox. He was not quite a baby, but looked pretty young. He did not notice me a first because he was fascinated by a bird. We made eye contact and it was a 10/10 experiance.

It was very nice to visit while everything is emerging. The wild feels live again, even though it never died.

What’s so fun about right now is seeing all the different plants at different stages. Some plants are bare, some have buds, some buds are starting to bloom, and some are covered and leaves.

Though they were hard to photograph, I saw a lot of song birds. I saw robins, blackbirds, cardinals, chickadees, and mourning doves. I also saw a duck and some geese flying overhead. For non avian life, I saw squirrels, a chipmunk, and tadpoles in the pond. I even saw a red fox a few blocks away!

As spring rapidly approaches, I decided to go to North Beach over the weekend.

While I do not have a photo of it, I saw a very large flock of birds flying north and got really excited. The birds know what’s up.

I saw the first bulb popping out of the ground on campus. It was very beautiful and tells us that spring is here.

Since I was last here, there is a lot more snow. Life has diffidently slowed down, but not stopped. The conifers have their needles, and everything else is bare. The bare weeping willows look very interesting.

The main wildlife remaining here are birds. The pond is frozen over, but I suspect life is still buzzing below the ice. I saw some tracks that I suspect to be rabbit tracks, but I am not sure.

I look forward to visiting this beautiful spot more in this beautiful winter season.

I very much enjoyed my time spend in Redstone Quarry. As someone who lived on Redstone Campus, it was fascinating to spend time in the same spot that many of the rocks used to build those building were from. Overall, this project gave me an excuse to spend time in nature alone, which I never used to do at home because it is such a long drive. Slowly this is changing since I went on a hike alone the other day. I am very glad that I got to know the beautiful cliff sides of Redstone Quarry and look forward to visiting more in the spring.

I live in Hoboken, NJ, which is the fourth densest populated city in the country. Having 55,000 in a square mile does not really allow for a lot of nature. Because of this, my main go-to spot is an abandoned pier. This weird is where my friends and I spent an unholy amount of time during middle school through high school. I like to call it my backyard because it is only a few blocks from my house and my actual backyard is a 5ft by 10ft concrete slab with a spicket and a drain.

Spending these past few months in Vermont has really put my little pier to shame, but I still love her. I thought I would highlight some of the beautiful creatures we have here. His pier is home to some very fat pigeons, some very angry geese, some very ballsy seagulls, and some badass stray cats. I often steal some food from my own cats and give it to these little guys. We may not have deer and bears, but our wildlife has stories to tell, and how roughed up they look says it all.

Overall, if there can be wildlife here, there can be wildlife anywhere. Nature always finds a way. My time at UVM has diffidently emphasized how important time in nature is for me personally. As much as I love this little pier, the entire time I was there to take these pictures I could hear loud planes, sirens, and it is hard to ignore the massive building everywhere. I do not want to live here forever, but this pier helps me maintain my sanity in the mean time.

Since my last visit, the trees are barer, the birds are fewer, and the squirrels are fatter. Last week I bought some Dunkin and sat of the cliff to watch the sunset. I 100% recommend doing this. Photos are below and I wrote a Haiku at the end.

The Redstone Quarry: A Haiku

beautiful quarry

you make my dunkin so sweet

why must the leaves fall?

Since my last visit, the leaves have been changing color, some even all the way to brown. As sad as it is to see bare trees, it is beautiful to know that the leaf-covered ground will breakdown to nourish the forest for next summer. In terms of wildlife, there were a lot fewer birds and I saw a squirrel eating a piece of bread.

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