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.
“Bird’s Eye View” of my Phenology Spot
