January: Endurance

Posted on by shulsman

Over the semester I switched my phenology blog location from Centennial Woods to Redstone Quarry.

How to reach the quarry:

To get there you take a right on Davis, then a left on S Prospect. Keep straight then take a left onto Shelburne Road. Then take a left on Hoover and right in front of you will be the Redstone Quarry.

Redstone Quarry and Centennial Woods are similar, so I will be able to continue where I left off in the Phenological changes that occurred in the land. One of the most noticeable things about the woods in January is that all of the water is frozen. We were able to walk across a pond easily, found tons of icicles on the wall, and slipped oh so many times. There was also less snow cover than previously seen. I think this was because the last time I did phenology was during a storm. Other changes include seeing lots more dead branches on the ground, any green seen previously was gone, and there was no sound from any animals.

At the site we identified several twig species. The main one was Black Oak group. The twig had pointy buds, was dark colored, and situated among oak trees. Another was the Sugar Maple, and White Oak group.

Another interesting thing we found at the site were animal tracks. As expected, the main tracks were that of the gray squirrel. It was very hard to see them because the snow has been melting, and the delicate steps of the squirrel rarely show up. When did see them it was a whole bunch together in some sort of meeting. Another very odd thing we saw was “moose tracks.” I was almost certain they were because of the distinct two pad hoof, and they were huge, about the size of my hand. There was no way a dog did it. Anyway the people I was there agreed it was odd, but unlikely that a moose had ended up in the quarry.