Honorable Mention of the Mountains: headed out to Centennial on Friday at around 2pm! There was no snow on the ground, but there was tons on the mountains which were a beautiful addition to my walk out to the woods. The temperature was around 25 and very windy, it was clear and sunny.
Signs of Winter
Foliage
Going back to visit in December, is it incredible how different my spot has changed in just one month. For one, the last time I visited in November, there were still a good amount of Norway Maple leaves hanging on, though they were heavily discolored they did not start to dry out. When I visited yesterday, almost all of the Norway Maple leaves had completely fallen off, and those that remained were shriveled from the cold and hanging from the trees limbs as if they would fall at any moment. When I visited in November, there were still bits of green hanging on from the summer, but now the only green is coming from the moss growing on top of the riparian buffers.
As mentioned, all the trees were bare besides a very select few leaves from the Norway Maple’s that will most likely fall any day now. As compared to the leaves from my last visit, the leaves are now void of any color, specifically the beautiful oranges and yellows that were a result of the loss of chlorophyll. Because the leaves were void of any color and extremely dry, it indicates that they have been dead for a long time now. In the picture below there are lots of Red Oak and a small amount White Oak leaves.
There was an increased number of fallen branches on the brook, there was only one last time and now there are three. This is an indication of the increasingly cold conditions that making conditions difficult for vegetation to thrive in. The moss growing along the banks can also be seen in the image below.
As mentioned, there was not a lot of color this time around when visiting my spot, which made the bright red berries I caught sight of very apparent. I was able to identify it as Barberry, which was on the list of invasive species that we discussed in class. There were no leaves still present on the bush, but some berries, which is typical for this time of year. It was interesting to see how this plant persisted in the cold in a way that none of the other vegetation had (except wood ferns).
Japanese Barberry
Wood Ferns
While there was no snow in Centennial (of course it came the day after we visited), there were signs of the cold temperature’s affects on the brook as the edges have begun to freeze over. The brook is not very deep so once it starts to reach even colder temperatures later in the month, or January depending on the weather, I predict that the channel will freeze over at the same time.
The beginnings of the brook freezing over
Animal Tracks?
Because there was no accumulated snow it was difficult to track any possible visitors to my spot. Additionally, there was no scat that I saw at any point from the opening of Centennial to the brook. I would like to return to my spot when there is snow and check for any tracks or scat to see what animals are are and about in the woods.
Highlights of my Project
Going out to Centennial was an extremely beneficial way for me to clear my mind when I had a stressful week. I loved the fact that visiting a place on a periodic basis was an assignment because it is something I would have enjoyed to do in my own time. My favorite memory was going with my friend Cate each time to visit our spots together because we would spend time at each to decompress and just admire how the beautiful the natural world at Centennial is. Additionally, something that helped me greatly over the course of each assignment was taking a picture at exactly the same point so I can line them up and really get a grasp of how things have changed, and also have a beautiful way to capture what I say playing out each visit.
