As the title indicates, the trail down to my phenology spot was pretty wet and muddy. It was raining a little as I walked down, and the next week or two is supposed to continue to rain quite a bit, so I can imagine my site will get somewhat flooded. Some trees have begun to leaf out, though I did not see any flowers on trees or peeking through the leaf litter. In particular, the small trees in the understory seemed to be furthest along in leafing out. I noticed mostly honeysuckle buds starting to open.
I noticed a large tree that had been downed since the last time I visited. We’ve had a few windy and stormy days in the past few weeks, so it makes sense. Coarse woody debris provides good habitat for insects, and subsequently, birds, so I am excited by this addition to the landscape of my spot.
When I got down to the riverbank, I enjoyed the sound of flowing water. The stream is very small along this stretch of woods, but it did almost completely fill the bank and was flowing faster than I had seen it before. There was a washed-out sandy stretch further along, clear evidence of bank erosion caused by the stream’s increased flow. There were lots of birds around the river. I was able to identify the Eastern phoebe and chickadee. I stumbled across a set of UVM birdfeeders that explained the increased bird presence.
Below are some photos of the site, as well as a hand-drawn sketch that provides a “birds-eye view” of my site.
