It’s winter in Centennial Woods! I spent so, so long just hanging out at my phenological spot and enjoying the beauty of it. There was a thin layer of snow blanketing my site. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough snow for animals to really begin creating and inhabiting their winter habitats, and I couldn’t find many tracks in the snow. I found some marks in the snow, but I wasn’t able to determine what animal they came from (if they came from an animal at all.) I still made some pretty cool observations and had a really nice time doing it though! Centennial Brook was moving much, much slower than it was during my last visit. The water at the point had frozen over, causing the right side to appear as though it weren’t moving at all. The Red Osier Dogwood (which was looking especially deep red today) at the tip of the point was completely bare of leaves, as were the Red Maples across from it. According to Naturally Curious, the Burdocks adjacent to the Red Osier Dogwood are dispersing seeds at this point in the phenological year. I didn’t spot any birds feeding on them while I was visiting though (bummer). The underbrush that I have been keeping an eye on is no longer visible and is covered by the layer of snow. When I managed to jump over to the other side of the brook, I found that the Joe-Pye weeds were completely brown, had died, and were now level with the ground. Now that the leaves were gone from many of the deciduous trees at my phenology site, the holes in them stood out so much more. I found a dead tree covered in holes that a Carpenter Bee must have made to create nest holes. It was also really exciting to see the ferns remain green like Naturally Curious had predicted! After reading the December chapter, I also tried to be super aware of the cones that I saw. There were some cones on one of the Hemlocks that were blackened, which was a little bit concerning and is something that I would like to keep an eye on. All of the other branches and cones appeared healthy thankfully. The remaining green in the White Pines and Hemlocks was a really beautiful sight to see, especially against the grey, winter sky. I noticed a lot more air traffic noise pollution today than normal, which was strange. Today has to have been my favorite visit so far, and I’m excited to give it some time to go full winter mode before I come back after winter break and check things out!
