Visiting my phenology spot again, I didn’t see too many signs of spring. Thats likely because it’s only a few days into spring and it has been very cold recently. It snowed a few days ago, but almost all of that snow is now gone. I mainly noticed the abundance of birds that I was hearing. I used the Merlin Bird ID app to identify the calls of the birds I heard. I ended up identifying a bunch, including:

• American Crow
• Black-Capped Chickadee
• Red-Breasted Nuthatch
• Downy Woodpecker
• Dark-eyed Junco
• Tufted Titmouse
• Pine Siskin

I also spotted a beautiful hawk of some kind, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to grab a picture before it flew off.

Below are some sound recordings of the bird calls at my spot.

I was also able to get some (bad) photos of a Downy Woodpecker and some Chickadees.

My spot consists of mostly evergreen trees, so there weren’t many hardwoods around to check if buds were swelling. Near the stream, I did find one that had prominent buds. I used our twig ID sheet to determine that the tree is a Norway Maple.

There were some signs of wildlife activity. Mainly pinecones that have been taken apart, likely by squirrels. I also saw a dug hole in the ground that looked like an animal was searching for buried food.

Lastly, I noticed that the stream was less strong than it normally is. I looked for signs of amphibians, but I didn’t see any. I must still be too cold for them. I did see some cool oxygen bubbles all underneath the water though.

Hopefully next time I visit Centennial woods, there will be more signs of life!