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!
Photo compilation of my site!
Squirrel tracks!
Dolostone, moss, and snow “cake”
One of the baby pine trees that stuck out
Bunny/hare tracks back on campus!