As I walked through Centennial Woods today I heard the squeaky crunch of snow beneath my boots but noticed a lack of birds singing or water rippling. Now that the full wrath of winter has fallen upon Vermont my chosen phenological site has gone through some major changes. All of the deciduous trees have shed their leaves while some evergreens like the Eastern White Pine have kept some of their very top needles, reaching for the sunlight. There is scarce to no understory to be seen due to the thick white blanket of snow that has fallen and smothered the plants that were once there.
Although some things have been hidden underneath the snow others become visible, like the tracks of animals who make their own trails in the forest. I observed where some humans veered off of the trail to discover more and I saw the hints of other animals from their tracks in the deep snow.
