Ethan Allen Park Through the Seasons

For this final phenology blog post, we were tasked with visiting our spots one last time and taking note of the changes that we are noticing as we approach summer.

Unfortunately, I ended up testing positive for COVID last week and was not able to make it to my spot for my final visit. So instead, here are some things I would expect to be happening at my site right now:

• As with many of the trees I’ve seen on campus recently, I would expect some of the maples and oaks at my site to be budding or blooming, finally bringing some color back to the canopy.

• I would also expect the warm weather to bring out some of the Ethan Allen Park critters who have been hibernating or conserving their energy to make it through the long winter.

• Lastly, I would expect the herbaceous species like ferns to be coming up through the ground after several months of hiding under snowfall.

Since I couldn’t observe any species interactions at my site in person, here is one inspired by some of the species mentioned in May’s section for Naturally Curious:

Looking back on this year’s time spent at Ethan Allen Park, there are several ways that nature and culture combine. For one, the Ethan Allen Tower is a main attraction of the park, providing views over the canopy for miles, and even a view of Lake Champlain. When I was doing some research for my first blog post, I discovered that this vantage point has always been culturally significant, and that the Abenaki tribes in the area used it as a lookout point. This historical significance goes hand in hand with the environmental significance of having such a large chunk of protected nature in such an urbanized area, and also the fact that Burlington residents utilize the park for recreational purposes and to spend time in nature.

As for whether or not I consider myself to be a part of this place, I’m have to admit that I don’t. As much as I’ve loved how familiar I’ve gotten with my journey to my sit-spot, and the specific dolostone overhang I’ve sat down on in drastically different weather conditions this year, I think I haven’t quite reached the status to call myself a part of this place. I feel a lot more like a visitor and an observer, someone who passes through from time to time. That being said, this project did make me feel a little connected to the small patch of the park that I designated as my observation space, and if I continue to be a visitor over the next three years, eventually I will consider myself as part of that place.

This weekend, myself and many of my peers in NR 2 were tasked with participating in iNaturalist’s City Nature Challenge BioBlitz, a global event encouraging nature enthusiasts from all over the world to explore their city in search of wildlife and different plant species. These observations of flora and fauna were then documented in the app and added to a global collection of thousands of species worldwide.

It was a really cool experience to participate in this event, knowing that my observations of species I see around Burlington every day were now alongside species I’ve never even heard of in a huge global database. I won’t lie, I had a busy weekend, so the time I spent actively searching was cutting it a little close to the deadline. However, in the short amount of time I spent looking around, I was still able to find several species, some of which I definitely wasn’t expecting to see. On Sunday night, I set out with my friend and fellow NR 2 student, Naomi, for a walk in Centennial Woods around sunset. The walk from my dorm takes about 7 minutes, but we were even able to find a few species in that short while.

First, we heard some birds chirping from a tree right outside the Jeffords building, and looked up to find (what I thought to be) a couple of chirping sparrows. I tried my best to take a few pictures of them, but it was a little too dark and they were a little too fast-moving for me to get a great picture. After uploading this observation on the app, we continued on our way towards Centennial Woods. Standing at a stoplight a couple minutes later, we were shocked to see a red-tailed hawk whizz right past our heads and reach a perch in a tree across the street. We waited for the light to change, hoping that the impressive bird wouldn’t fly away before we got close enough to it to take a picture. Fortunately, it stayed still long enough for me to get a mediocre picture of it in the tree, and another of it flying away. Uploading the observation to iNaturalist, we continued heading towards our destination. Upon entering the wooded area, we were finding it pretty difficult to find any wildlife. The next observation I ended up making was of some fungi on a tree, which was once again not the best observation according to iNaturalist’s identification suggestions and the lack of input from other specialists. I ended up going with just a genus that the fungi might be a part of, which was the genus trametes. Moving along, the next species I saw was a moth flying around, but it was moving too fast for me to get a good picture. I took a picture of the area it was flying around, hoping it would be recognizable as a floating blur in the foreground. However, it was unable to actually be seen, so I received some negative feedback in the comments of that observation. The next species we came across was not for a while, but it was my favorite when it finally came into view. As we were exiting the woods, I thought a few dark-colored birds were flying above my head, but Naomi informed me that they were actually bats. They were super active, and in the 10 or so minutes we spent observing, we saw probably about a dozen bats flying around. Capturing them on camera was difficult though, and for a while I was convinced my best photographic evidence was going to be a blurry black figure that I screenshotted from a video, which almost looked like a lens flare. Luckily, with patience I was able to take a video where the token bat-wing shape could be seen, and then my evidence could be uploaded to iNaturalist. As cool as watching the bats was, I was also a little terrified of one of them flying into my head and giving me rabies, so we headed out after a while and began our journey back to campus. On the way back I made two more observations, this time of staghorn sumac (which was given research-grade observation status on iNaturalist) and a pile of immigrant pavement ants on the sidewalk. With that final observation, I concluded my participation in the BioBlitz with a total of 7 viable observations and 4 credible species.

My experience using the app was pretty easy overall, especially since I’ve used it a little bit this year already. I appreciate the app giving identification suggestions, but it was also hard to get a picture that was good enough for iNaturalist to give specific and accurate suggestions. I also appreciated the input from other people who have more experience in identifying different species around Burlington, which made me more confident in my own identifications.

Considering the reports from other cities across the globe, I was definitely surprised to find out that La Paz was the leading city. As much as I know Bolivia to be a place where a wide variety of species exist and thrive, I’ve never thought of it as a biodiversity hotspot, especially in relation to cities like Cape Town, last year’s winner. I was also surprised that common dandelions were the most commonly observed species worldwide, but it actually made me smile to imagine all of the clusters of yellow flowers that are popping up right now in patches of grass worldwide.

Generally, I was really excited to participate in such a huge event, connecting with others all over the world through our shared love and appreciation of the species in our cities. My only grievance is that as hard as I looked, I couldn’t find any Bigfoot observations. At least there’s always next year!

This spring break, we were tasked with spending some time in a new phenology place and comparing it to our sites in Burlington. So, on March 11, I made my way to the park a mile away from my house: the Crows Woods Nature Preserve in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

It was a beautiful day, with a temperature of 57 degrees Fahrenheit and partly sunny skies. I decided to go to the park in the early evening, about 30 minutes before sunset. I’ve been to Crows Woods many times before, since it’s a pretty important landmark of my town and is so close to my house. Crows Woods has about 50 acres of protected forest, but is also home to several soccer fields, a baseball diamond, and even a community garden. I spent a lot of time at the soccer fields in middle school and high school, as did many other people in my community. A lot of people also walk their dogs on the trails, but I decided to leave mine at home so I wouldn’t scare off the wildlife.

Immediately upon entering the park I noticed a sign with some information about beavers, which enjoy the park’s location by the Cooper River. I’ve never seen any beavers in Crows Woods myself, but hopefully I will one day.

I chose to walk one of the trails to the left of the entrance, taking note of my surroundings. I noticed the scenery was mainly brown, which makes sense considering the time of year. Unlike Vermont, the snow in New Jersey is long gone, so the forest is currently mainly barren trees and their fallen leaves on the ground. I noticed a lot of oak leaves on the forest floor, both white and red. I also noticed a couple of American Beech trees, which still seemed to be holding onto a few dried leaves.

Eventually I came across some more signage, this time describing a hardwood swamp and an “Indian Spring (Bubble Pond).” These were interesting for me because I had never noticed these natural features before. I’m excited to revisit them as the weather gets warmer to see what they look like with more foliage and wildlife activity.

As for the wildlife I saw throughout my time in Crows Woods, it was largely uneventful. I saw a few squirrels, but I live in the suburbs so it didn’t feel very different from what I see in my own backyard. The squirrels were super easy to find though, since their movement through the dried leaves was pretty noisy. I also tried to look for bird activity, but I’m not an experienced birder so I struggled with identification. Eventually I came across a fallen tree and decided to sit on it for a while and watch for birds, but only a few of them flew overhead and it was too quick for me to identify any of them. Though I didn’t see many birds, I heard them pretty loudly. I took a couple of videos to try and compare to bird calls online, but I’m not super confident in what I’ve determined the birds to be. I’m pretty sure I heard some black-capped chickadees and maybe some cardinals, but it’s hard to tell.

As I mentioned before, I noticed a lot of red and white oaks throughout crows woods, and they dominated the overstory. I didn’t notice any coniferous species in the canopy, and only a few of them in the understory. The ones that I did notice seemed to be Eastern White Pine trees, and most of them only came to my waist height. The tallest one I found was probably about 8 feet tall, but it still seemed tiny compared to the mature oaks in the canopy.

Overall my experience at Crows Woods was super fun, and it was cool to view this familiar landscape from a new scientific perspective. I’m excited to gain confidence in my plant and animal identification skills and be able to interpret the forest even more.

Today, a few friends and I went on a walk around campus to look for animal tracks and other signs of winter wildlife in Burlington. We started by Patrick Gym and made our way towards a wooded area by the Burlington Country Club and golf course.

At first we were a little worried about finding tracks, since it snowed on Saturday night and turned a little icy in the days that followed. However, immediately after stepping off the main trail we saw a ton of tiny tracks in the snow. The compacted snow/ice had actually made it really easy to see paw prints, like the snow had made a perfect mold for every step the animals took.

The first ones we noticed were squirrel tracks, closely followed by some sort of bird tracks.

We continued looking around and found a lot more tracks! Unfortunately, they all seemed to be squirrel and bird tracks like the ones we saw earlier. Some of the squirrel tracks caught our attention however, due to the size differences between them. Some were smaller and others were larger, so originally we assumed they might be from different ages of squirrels. However, squirrels typically give birth around this time of year or later, so it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for the smaller tracks to be coming from young squirrels.

Many of the tracks led to and from a fallen tree, with many holes and indents made in the ground. This area could serve as shelter or a den for some animals, which would make sense as to why there was so much activity around it.

At one point a few Black Capped Chickadees perched on a tree a few yards away from me, so I assumed that a good amount of the bird tracks we had seen had come from them. Unfortunately there weren’t many distinguishing features in the tracks that I picked up on, so I wasn’t completely sure that the Chickadees made them.

Another interesting track we noticed was something that walked diagonally, but unfortunately the snow was too deep to get a good look at the paw print. It seemed a little too small to be a fox, so we guessed it might have been made by a house cat. Being by a golf course and many residential buildings, this guess made sense.

We also stepped onto the golf course very briefly, and found some domestic dog prints. I’ve seen a lot of people walking their dogs in this area before, so seeing dog tracks was not surprising.

Another notable part of this lab was using iNaturalist, which brought some difficulties. I uploaded observations while I was out finding them, but just to my own profile since I hadn’t joined the NR 2 page yet. When I tried moving these observations to the group page later, I couldn’t fully figure out how to do it. I realized some of them weren’t moving because I had just classified them as “Squirrels” so identifying them as “Eastern Gray Squirrel” let me add the tracks to the project. I did the same with my general identification of bird tracks as “Perching Birds,” and changed them to “Black Capped Chickadee,” since I had seen them in the area.

I enjoyed seeing my classmate’s observations on iNaturalist, and I also enjoyed how you could leave suggestions for identifications. It seems super helpful as a beginner when it comes to species identification, since more experienced people can reach out and suggest other ideas.

Yesterday, on January 28, my friend Megan and I headed out once again to Ethan Allen Park to see the phenological changes that have occurred since the last time we visited. It had been about a month and a half since we last went there, so the scenery had some pretty drastic changes.

Immediately we noticed how much snow had piled up in the park since our last visit. Last time, a thin blanket of snow covered the ground, but only about as thick as a centimeter. Now, the snow was deep enough to come in through the top of my snow boots if I wasn’t careful. The snow squeaked and crunched with each step as we trudged through the park to our respective spots.

At our spots we immediately started looking around for signs of wildlife in the snow and trees. On and around the main trail I quickly noticed lots of human footprints, and I was surprised to see ones leading to my exact sit-spot. I was a little excited that someone else was appreciating the spot I chose at the beginning of the year. The first non-human track I found was likely a dog print, but I’m not 100% sure. I ran into a couple of dogs near the entrance and also saw some more walking around, but the print in the snow had a center lobe like a gray fox, so I wasn’t sure which one it came from.

After some more looking around, I found a trail of prints that stretched several yards across the snow. My phenological spot is on an outcropping of a bunch of dolostone boulders, so walking trough the snow to get a closer look at the tracks was a little bit like Russian roulette as to whether or not my foot was stepping on solid ground or not. Eventually I got closer to the tracks unharmed, but the snow still made it difficult to discern which animal made them. Not only had it piled up very deeply over the past month, but we also had fresh snowfall that morning, which covered up these deep tracks even more. it was impossible to see the outline of the paw or hoof that stepped through the snow, so the trail they left was all I had to judge from. My best guess is that the tracks are from a fox, but I would love to hear a more experienced tracker’s opinion! They stretched from the bottom of a small hill up to a little shelter under a dolostone boulder, where a small animal could take refuge from a storm. I think they went even further than that, but I couldn’t see further without running the risk of falling off a cliff (so the trail stops there for me).

Aside from evidence of wildlife in the snow, the trees above us were especially active with birds yesterday. I heard them singing even louder than they did in the warmer months, and it was even easier to see them without the foliage on the trees. There were a few especially round robins as well as a couple of woodpeckers, and another variety of bird that I didn’t know the name of. They were chirping and flying back and forth through the trees, which was super fun to watch.

An interesting thing I noted was that some of the deciduous trees in the park were still holding onto the last of their leaves, despite how dry and dead they were. I was surprised that they were still holding on through the wind and snow, even though there were only a few leaves left.

After about an hour in the park, we began our journey back to campus and our warm dorm rooms!

This week I finally got a glimpse into the snowy season at my phenology site. I hadn’t visited in about a month, so I was anxious to get to my spot and see all the changes that had occurred since I last saw it.

Needless to say, it was even more beautiful than I expected!

There was a tiny blanket of snowfall covering the ground as I approached the park, thinned out a bit in areas of high traffic. As I made my way through the trails, I looked for animal tracks in areas where the snow made a blank canvas for different forest creatures to make their artwork. Eventually I saw a squirrel ahead of me, and after it scampered away I went over to see the tracks it made in the snow. It was super fun to see the path it took and its tiny footprints.

Soon enough I was at my spot, and almost like it had been waiting for me, the snow began to fall again in the most beautiful flurries. Looking around, I saw the familiar trees and dolostone boulders, with new parts of the view sticking out this time with winter’s filter.

I noticed a lot more young pine trees, that had likely blended in with the green forest earlier in the semester. Now their green needles stick out against the white background and bare trees.

I was also surprised to see many ferns still looking healthy on the forest floor, when so many other herbaceous species have already died out for the year.

The moss on the boulders was another aspect of the forest that stuck out this time. It was so beautiful to see the dolostone decorated with a moss topping followed by snowfall and any other little things that fell down and ended up on top of them, like a forest cake.

I sat at my spot for almost 20 minutes, just looking around and taking a bunch of photos and videos. I only heard a bird once, but it wasn’t surprising considering the differences in animal activity as the weather gets chillier, along with the fact that they’re normally hard to hear over the sounds of cars, planes, and people in this area anyway.

Eventually it was time to head out, but not before having a little more fun in the park. I got my booster shot at Hannaford’s right before going to the park, and my friend Megan and I decided to split the cost of a sled in the store. With the fresh snow coming down, it was the perfect opportunity to test it out. We sled down some of the trails, which was a little scary given the bumpy terrain. But it was still super fun!

When we got back to campus it was still snowing outside, so we continued our sledding adventures on campus. To add even more excitement, we found more animal tracks! We found some sort of bunny or hare tracks and another trail that could’ve been squirrel or raccoon (not sure). We followed them until a parking lot ended the footprints and went back to sledding.

Being able to see evidence of animal life in this way is so exciting especially since this is a season where a lot of animals are either conserving their energy by limiting their movement or hibernating, as outlined in Mary Holland’s Naturally Curious. Even if it’s a little harder to find wildlife out and about, knowing that they were is almost just as fun.

The changes I noticed this week were the most drastic so far, and I’m super interested to know what it will look like as the phenological calendar continues. I compiled pictures from my four visits to my site so far, and it’s really cool to see the progression of the forest over the past couple months. I especially love how the fern in the bottom left corner has been going strong since that first visit!

Today I decided to visit one of my classmate’s sites, Centennial Woods! I ended up at Lydia Emry’s phenology spot and really enjoyed the adventure. I’m already a little familiar with Centennial Woods from our first self-guided exploration and also trips I’ve taken with friends, but I haven’t been in a little over a month, so it was super interesting to see what has changed.

I really enjoyed spending time by the brook Lydia wrote about, and I completely agree that it is a calming environment for a stressful day. I also noticed some of the vegetation she wrote about, but there were hardly any leaves left on any vegetation. Mixed with the rainy/overcast weather for today, the barren trees made for a sort of ominous feeling in the forest, but it was beautiful at the same time.

For this post, I decided to explore the Salmon Hole trail with my friend Naomi.

As we left campus and started our journey towards the trail, a myriad of phenologic events came across our path.

Namely, we noticed several Norway Maple trees that still clung to their foliage, but all of it was yellow. These trees stood out alongside their bald companions, as most trees have lost the majority of their leaves by now.

As we continued walking through the residential areas and making our way down North Prospect street, we also took note of an apple tree in someone’s front yard. It was clearly evident what time of year it is from just looking at the tree itself – it had lost almost all of its leaves but was still bearing fruit, most of which was already looking a little shriveled.

Soon enough we made it to the entrance of the trail, and were greeted by a lively dog whose name I sadly never got the chance to ask.

We made our way down the steps, as stinging nettle plants surrounded us on each side. Their bright green color stood out against the forest floor, which was mainly colored with yellow and beige fallen leaves.

I noticed a divot in the soil that started up a hill and followed under a small bridge until it hit the river. It had the potential to be a stream, but I almost didn’t notice it with the small amount of water flowing through. I bet it’s filled up at least a little more after the rainfall today.

We continued walking, chatting, and looking around the trail. At this point, Naomi noticed a bunch of giant wooly bear caterpillar cocoons on a boxelder tree that I definitely would’ve missed if she hadn’t pointed them out, and I was super grateful to have a second set of eyes with me. The caterpillars from these cocoons have moved on to be leopard moths, as the cycle of life continues.

We spent some time looking around this area after the cocoons grabbed our attention, and soon enough we noticed a strange looking plant that almost looked like a spiky shower loofah. After a quick google search, we determined these were wild cucumbers, that had now dehydrated and turned from their bright green color to an autumn beige. They were super light and hollow, and very fun to look at.

Continuing down the trail, we finally came upon a clearing of huge mature trees. The ones that caught our eyes almost instantly were the huge silver maples that sat close to the river. Their bark was so cool and wildly patterned, but their stature stood out the most. The majority of the trees we had seen were mature but not big enough to seem ancient, while these ones seemed historic. (I tried to draw the little stick figure guy to show how big they were)

We continued moving along, and at one point we caught a glimpse of a squirrel scattering by, moving quickly through shrubs and bushes.

A perfect little grouping of mushrooms on the trail also warranted a few pictures as we continued moving on.

Our adventure ended with a super energetic boxer named Walter (I wonder if he has a future as an NR 1 professor :)) and a grouping of daisies. It was nice to see flowers in November as so many other plants are dying out.

Then we made our way back to campus!!

This week we were tasked with spending 15 minutes sitting quietly in our spots and using our senses to engage with the natural area surrounding us. Normally I would be thrilled about such a relaxing and calm activity, but this weekend the rain made me a little apprehensive about sitting still for so long. Nonetheless, I made the trek to Ethan Allen Park on Sunday morning, fully drenched by the time I sat on the forest floor.

Seeing as my clothes and hair were already completely soaked through, I left behind any hopes of staying dry and embraced the rain. As I started my timer and looked around, I almost felt like I was watching a nature documentary. Sitting and observing is something I’ve done before, but I can’t say that I’ve sat outside like this in the rain for very long. It reminded me of the peaceful shots of the rainforest I’ve seen on TV, with the constant downpour of the rain alongside the other sights and sounds of the park. I saw the leaves fight the heavy raindrops, bouncing back after a particularly big bead fell from above and smacked a leaf down. I heard the heavy rainfall accompanied by the occasional car passing by or plane flying overhead. I tried my hardest to listen for wildlife, and after several minutes my ears finally adjusted enough to hear the occasional chirp of a bird or two. Aside from the rain, the cars were definitely the most prominent auditory feature, which makes sense since there is a major road not too far from my spot. I wondered if this noise disturbance has any big effects on the wildlife in the park, but I figured that the species here are likely somewhat used to living alongside an urbanized area, so the noise of the cars has been a familiar aspect for decades. Sitting in my spot, I smelled the crisp air that goes hand in hand with cold and rainy days, the earthy smell of soil and moss, and finally an undertone of pine, expected from the needles covering the ground I sat on and the trees right beside me. The soil on the forest floor was hidden almost entirely, mainly concealed by the fallen sugar maple leaves and pine needles, along with any other leaves that had fallen, pinecones, and the young herbaceous and woody species that popped up every now and then. I noticed that there were a lot more leaves on the floor this time than the last time I had visited, and more of an absence of them on the trees. There were a wide variety of species surrounding my spot, and almost all of the deciduous ones had lost half of their foliage or more. Even then, there were a couple anomalies – green trees in the understory with barely any leaves that had fallen yet, and which were typically younger and smaller than others. I spent some time looking at the rock formations that permeate throughout my spot, which I now know are dolostone from the brief research I did for my first posting. They peak through the sloping landscape, especially near the area where the main trail splits into two. some of the flatter ones have been stacked into a natural staircase of sorts, which helps park-goers to move around the steeper areas of incline. My sit spot itself is built in with the geology, as the dolostone forms a cliff/edge overlooking a lower area of the forest. Each rock is adorned with many lichens and a decent amount of moss that seemed to be thriving in Sunday’s heavy rainfall. This bright green moss and the ferns by my feet stood out in comparison with the primarily yellow, brown, and orange colors that covered the landscape. On my walk through the park to my spot I saw a few squirrels, but in the 15 minutes I spent watching my surroundings, I was unable to see any wildlife. I figured they were probably taking shelter under a nice tree to get out of the rain for a little while. I felt the rain on my skin and the wet ground under my feet, as the damp soil squished a little with each step I took. Eventually my 15 minutes went by and it was time to leave my little spot, so I took a few pictures and headed back towards my dorm (and the dry clothes within it).

The task that followed, drawing a birds eye view of my area, was especially difficult because of the rolling terrain it encompasses. There are several layers , with the highest at the top of my drawing and the lowest at the bottom right, beneath the cliff area my spot sits upon. The main prominent features are these rock formations and the woody species throughout the site. Although I’m not 100 percent sure that I put each tree in the right spot, each of these species is a part of the landscape and the list I made in the first posting. I focused on the mature trees in the canopy for this drawing, though the buckthorn trees and many of the American beeches were still young and part of the understory. Maple and pine were the dominating species in the canopy. I wish I had inherited the artist gene like my brother so I could portray this area a little clearer, but overall I think it shows a general depiction of my phenology spot.

Hi, welcome to my first blog post as part of my phenology assignment for NR1!

It has been a little confusing trying to figure out how to get this site up and running, but now that it is set up I’m so excited to keep exploring and figuring out all the fun things I can do and share on here throughout the year.

Other than difficulties figuring out how to use the website, I also had some difficulties making the decision of what phenology spot I should choose. After hearing about the project in lecture, I asked my outdoorsy friends and classmates if they had any suggestions as to which location I should choose. I made plans with my dorm neighbor and fellow NR1 student, Megan Sutor, to scout out a location over the long weekend. One place that grabbed my attention as soon as the words came out of her mouth was the Burlington Sea Caves, located in Arthur Park. However, our excitement about the caves was quickly dampened by the fact that they are not accessible without a canoe or some sort of flotation device during this time of year, something we did not realize until our boots were getting sucked into the muck at the water’s edge. Although it was disappointing at the time, we both got some comedic relief from the fact that neither of us considered how the sea caves might only be reachable by the water (sea). After a quick decision to visit the caves again in the winter when they are walkable via ice, we decided to make our way to another nearby location, Ethan Allen Park. A friend from my Spanish class had recommended it when I was asking for location suggestions, and as we walked to the park I realized I recognized the area since one of my friends lives directly across the street. It seemed promising from the entrance, and got even better as we entered the cover of the forest understory and began to explore.

Only a few meters in from the park entrance, a sign reads “tower open,” beckoning park goers to visit Ethan Allen Tower, a 40-foot-tall monument that overlooks the greater Burlington area and provides views of Mt. Mansfield, Camel’s Hump, Lake Champlain, UVM’s campus, and everything in between. In doing some research behind the meaning of the tower, I found that it had been built in 1903 to memorialize Ethan Allen as the protected natural property’s “original” tenant, but even years before white settlers came in, the Abenaki had been using the prime location of Ethan Allen Park as a lookout for decades, taking advantage of its incredible view of the Lake Champlain Basin (Burlington Parks, Recreation, & Waterfront). This location had been nicknamed “Indian Rock” after its use by the indigenous Abenaki people, a nickname that is acknowledged on a plaque within the tower itself. After taking in the views from above the canopy, Megan and I set out to find a specific phenology spot for our projects. We came to a grouping of boulders, covered by years of moss and lichens and existing alongside a vast array of different plant species. We went our separate ways, and eventually I found a recognizable seat on the forest floor, almost like it was meant for observational purposes. I knew immediately that this would be a perfect spot for the project, having my own little lookout where I could just sit, listen, and watch what was going on around me. Megan found a similar location for her project a short walk away, and the two of us returned to campus, content with the phenology spots we had chosen.

The following weekend, I returned to Ethan Allen Park again with my roommate to take more detailed observations of the species in my area. From my “VIP” seating amongst the boulders and moss, I saw a different species in every direction I turned. Ferns and wild sarsaparilla grew by my feet, while Eastern White Pine and Red Pine towered over my right shoulder. Fully grown maple and birch trees took up space every few paces, while younger trees sprinkled the ground underneath the taller trees’ cover. Working on identifying trees made me take notice of so many trees I likely would’ve mistaken for weeds this time last year, like the baby pine tree I saw that stood no taller than my mid-calf. After trying my hardest to identify the woody species in my spot as best as I could, I came up with this list:

• Eastern White Pine
• Red Pine
• Yellow Birch
• Paper Birch
• Northern Red Oak
• American Beech
• Common Buckthorn
• Sugar Maple
• Red Maple
• Norway Maple
• Hickory
• American Hophornbeam

Working on identifying the trees during a time when the leaves are changing had me picking up almost any interesting piece of foliage on the forest floor that caught my eye, and eventually I had such a collection that I decided to bring some back to my dorm to save, and possibly compare to the foliage I find when I visit other times throughout the year. I made a scrapbook-esque identification paper with some of the leaves I picked up, dated for 10-17-21, when I retrieved those leaves in the first place (pictures attached). By the end of the year I think it would be super cool to have a collection of these papers, to show the changing vegetation in action. Generally, I’m really excited to see how familiar I can get with my phenological spot as the months go by, observing the changes in the seasons and becoming an expert on this small area in Burlington.

Ethan Allen Park Natural & Cultural History. (2020, October 13). Burlington Parks, Recreation & Waterfront. Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://enjoyburlington.com/ethan-allen-history/