A UVM blog Phenology Blog

My site has changed greatly in the amount of life visible. At the beginning of the semester, my site was generally colorless and just shades of grey and brown. The trees had no leaves or buds. There were only old leaves and snow on the ground with little signs of life. Now every tree is sprouting buds, and some are growing leaves as well. There are also many birds’ songs that can be heard, and grass is growing out from underneath the old leaves.  

There are not too many landmarks at my site, but I have become quite familiar with the small stream that passes through my site as well as the cattails and other wetland plants within my site. The stream was slightly frozen over at the beginning of the semester but has now melted entirely. The water moves relatively quickly into a small pond. Due to the amount of water at my site, there are a large number of water-loving plants including cattails. It has been interesting to see how they change over time and grow new leaves in the spring.

There is not really a presence of culture within the site. However, it is a place where students come to sit and spend some time outside. It is a great place to come think and feel as if you are away from campus.  

I definitely feel as if I am a part of my place. I spent much time there and feel as if I know almost every aspect of the site due to the attention I have given it. I plan to visit it next year as I am living near it and am excited to grow my sense of place there.  

I explored some of the outer edges of campus, within campus, and the golf course. I tried to record a variety of species, trees, shrubs, grasses, and signs of wildlife. I was more successful in finding trees and shrubs and struggled to find signs of wildlife.  

My experience was overall good. I think iNaturalist can be a little hard to get used to at the beginning, but after using it for a little bit, it gets much easier. I really appreciate some of the features it has to help people identify species without any prior knowledge. It is very inclusive in that way.  

I encountered many species but recorded around 75 in iNaturalist. As I said, many of which were shrubs and trees. I hope that in future iNaturalist’s I can contribute more wildlife signs.  I was able to catch a skunk on my walk which was incredible!

I was really surprised to see that the city in the lead with the highest amount of observations was the Washington DC area. I was surprised to see that there were so many species to record despite it being such an urban area.  

When visiting my site, I noticed some early signs of spring. There is lots of moving water due to snow melt and leaves from autumn are starting to show. I was also able to see bits of sap on various trees showing the signs of cooling and warming within the trees.  

I was unable to tell entirely if the buds had begun to swell but I did photograph a few to show. From what I was able to tell the buds were beginning to swell but were not ready yet. They were still a dark color, and some were still very thin as well.  

I was able to identify one bird while at my Phenology spot. I do not have much knowledge on bird calls, but I did see one American Robin fly overhead while I was sitting listening for birds. I was also able to capture a voice memo of another bird I heard. I will be speaking to a friend of mine to try and identify it.  

Since last visiting my site, there is a significant difference in snow amounts and dampness of the surrounding area. The snow and plants on this visit are much more moist due to the melting of snow. Since my last visit there are also many more signs of life, though many are melted. There are a few different tracks showing that there has been wildlife in there area. I was unable to find any signs of amphibians but will keep an eye out next time I go!  

I chose to explore the golf course area behind Redstone Campus. My phenology spot is near there, but I explored areas further away and that had more tree coverage than my phenology spot does. I also explored some of the woods that are further down the street along a neighborhood. The spot I chose did make it slightly difficult to explore because many of the tracks had been blown over a little bit by the wind. The location is also popular for dog walkers. This made it slightly difficult as well to tell if a print was from a possible coyote or fox or if it was another domestic dog print. I returned a second day as well to look further due to my lack of findings my first day. Despite these difficulties, I was able to find some rabbit prints and possible coyote prints as well as many domestic dog prints.  

My experience with the iNaturalist app was a little difficult. I was able to use the app great however I am not sure if my postings were added to the class project. I believe I selected the correct settings for it, but when I went to go look, I was unable to see my posting.  

The first prints I found were domestic dog prints. These were the easiest to identify for me. I was able to look at the walk, which was slightly excited and random, as well as the paw size to identify the species. The direction the toes pointed, which is outward, also hinted towards the domestic dog species.  

For the rabbit tracks, I hypothesize that they are the eastern cottontail rabbit. The tracks show all four prints close together. The prints are slightly smaller than the prints within the tracking book so I would guess that the rabbit is on the smaller and maybe younger side.  

The last track I found was a possible coyote track. This one is really difficult to tell. I think the size and the direction of the nails hint towards coyote. However, with the number of domestic dog tracks present at the course, there is a high likelihood that it could just be a dog.  

The new phenology spot I investigated was a small green space near my grandmother’s house in Wenham, Mass. She lives in a relatively urban area with only a few places that have some privacy from infrastructure. The spot I found was one that featured various species of trees and had much less sound pollution than other locations I had considered.  

While I enjoyed visiting a new location, I can observe that visiting this location made me very appreciative of my phenology spot. My spot has much more to offer visually and in just about every aspect. This spot did not feature much wildlife or unique species.  

Here are some of the images I captured of my location.

Many of the deciduous trees had already lost their leaves.

This location featured oak, spruce, and eastern white pine as the predominant species, similar to my regular phenology location. However, it had much less variety of species as well as maturity. There was a large lack of undergrowth due to the regular mowing that occurs there.  

10/14/2023 Introduction

Centennial Woods is a local favorite for students on campus who want to get away into nature. The woods contain mature forests, streams, and trails to explore. I chose Centennial Woods as my phenology location because I really enjoyed it during our first lab for NR 1010. I would love to gain more knowledge about a location I will be able to revisit for the rest of my college years. To get to Centennial Woods, one would take the sidewalk behind the University of Vermont campus hospital and cross East Avenue. The trailhead is located on the left side of Carrigen Drive and the trail leads right into the woods. 

At my Phenology spot within Centennial Woods, one can find many woody species. In my field notebook, I recorded sugar maple, striped maple, American beech, eastern white pine, white oak, northern red oak, and green ash. The vegetation is low and made up of species that enjoy wet soil. Near the bank of the stream, I identified miss, ferns, and clover. 

During my first visit, I also found a few plants that produced these small red berries. They were such a beautiful color; they caught my eye right away. I have not been able to identify the species yet, but I hope to soon. I also had the pleasure of running into a mouse when I was there. 

The spot I picked within the woods is along a stream. The stream has very small waterfalls and makes a very peaceful sounds when flowing. There is also a change in the landscape on either side of the stream. One side has a very steep bank that drops off right into the stream. And the other side has a much more shallow slope that leads to the stream. 

One unfortunate aspect of picking an area open to the public is the impact that is left behind. I happen to run into multiple pieces of litter at the location and am planning on bringing a bag to clean it up with next time. I hope I will be able to see a change in this aspect of the location as well as a change in the phenology over the year. 

11/6/2023 Phenology Observation

During my fifteen-minute sit, I interacted with my phenology location using all of my senses. There was a slight breeze coming through the forest today. It was light, but still managed to pick up a few pieces of my hair and blow them into my face. I could almost smell the stream as much as I could hear it, rippling over the rocks in its way. It smelled clear and fresh, if that is even possible. I tasted the warm coffee I brought along, and it was a great contrast to the cool air. With my sense of sight, I noticed the change in vegetation since I last visited. Many of the trees are now nearly bare of leaves, quickly approaching ‘stick season’. The ground was covered in leaves, a majority of them now brown as opposed to the yellow and red hues I noticed when I last visited. The very small plants seemed to have little to no changes, just slightly less green and withered. One large theme seemed to stand out to me: the colors were much duller and more diluted. This began with the trees and flowed all the way down to the grass, everything much darker than before.  

A bird’s eye view of my phenology spot. One can see the large rock in the center, my favorite place to enjoy my spot. To the right it the creek and the left is the forest, losing its leaves.

12/9/2023 Last Visit

Since my last visit, the foliage has greatly decreased. Many of the deciduous trees have lost their leaves, but a few are still holding on. There are a few Norway Maples that can be spotted with leaves on their branches. The leaves that remain are also a much darker shade than my last visit.  

There is no strong persistence of fruit in the area, I no longer see any of the berries I noticed during my first visit. I do see some persistence within the understory however, with a strong presence of ferns and smaller bush plants. There is signs of decomposition with some of leaves on the ground: they have begun to break into smaller pieces and be mixed slightly within the very top layer of the soil.  I do not see many signs of animals, however there are a few birds’ nests to be noticed within the trees. I unfortunately was not able to get a high-quality image of them due to their height.  

My phenology spot has really become somewhere I feel a sense of place and I believe that to be because I have taken the time to get to know it. The time I have spent with it has taught me a lot about it and makes me want to spend more time there. I really enjoy how quiet the space is and how many birds I can hear. It really is an escape from the outside world.  

song of the day- A Woman’s Design Is Divine by Blood Red Sun