As the first two weeks of snow close in on Burlington, animals and plant species are adapting to help survive the cold months ahead. Referencing Mary Holland’s Naturally Curious, I used this visit to observe and make connections to the December chapter about changes happening in New England forests, and more specifically at the Trinity forest spot. Active mammals are gearing up via insulation, storing food and fat, and staying out of sight. A lack of cone production in Canada occasionally results in an irruption of northern birds in New England seeking food south of their range, which adds to the winter wildlife viewing.
The spot behind trinity has geared itself up for winter. The stream appears to be moving slower than usual, and is a bit slushy in spots.
The brush of predominantly dock-weeds, Orchard Grass, Leopard Plants, Brood-Leaved Dock, and Flat-Top Aster is completely devoid of all greenery…and its former flexibility. These deciduous plants have dropped all their leaves and gone dormant for the winter, due to a lack of water. The evergreens or conifers atop the hill, however, have kept their foliage, but their needles have a thick, waxy coating to reduce water loss. In general, conifers can tolerate lower temperatures than broad-leaf trees.
Conifer Trees Atop the Hill 
Deciduous Shrubs Along the Marsh
As per usual, the intermediate wood ferns along the ground demonstrate persistence of leaves. The common burdock along the marsh area of the spot begun to disperse their seeds… a fact that wild turkeys are particularly fond of.
I revisited my spot the next day to see if I could find some animal tracks. At first glance, I spotted some red fox tracks along the stream, the occasional dog tracks of course, and several other tracks shown below that I had trouble identifying. The picture to the left seems to belong a small animal, perhaps rabbit. The picture to the right featured something bigger, I believed. At first glance, I can see it has 4 toes, but the next step looks a bit like a moose track. I concluded that it might be a grey squirrel track. I also assume there might some fisher in this area as well (in accordance with Mary Hollands chapter on December in New England) so possibly some of these tracks belong to them.
Rabbit Tracks? 
Grey Squirrel tracks