This blog is where I record my individual entries from visiting my chosen location in Centennial Woods, I really enjoyed this project as it gave me a chance to reflect on the changes the natural world is undergoing while we continue to go to class and do work. I took similar photos from the same spot in the woods about once a month since October. We were also asked to visit a location at our home and compare and reflect on it as a comparison to our location here in Burlington. I had a great time and hope that you can get a taste of what it was like to visit my spot through this blog.
9/30/24
I chose a spot on the far side of the stream in Centennial Woods and up the hill a little bit. To get there you walk down the main path for a while until you cross the stream and end up in a small clearing with some birch and pine trees, there is a little path off to the left and down a slope to the stream on the far side of the stream there is a path to the other bank of the hill, at the fork in the path turn right and follow the uphill path for 30-40 yards, where you will find a fallen tree.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/CL7kzgnAojUo54HL7
10/15/24
It is a very fern-covered ground with very few saplings or other shrubs along the ground, there are the occasional maple sapling or wood ferns. The organic layer is composed almost entirely of needles and leaves and the soil seems a little sandy.
Some wooded shrubs include sugar maple saplings, honeysuckle, and three-leaf goldthread.
The ground is also covered mossy stones and some ivy in a small patch to the right of the fallen tree as you face up the hill. There are also Hemlocks, Norway and sugar maples, and some scattered green and white ash.
11/4/24
I sat on the fallen tree through the path this afternoon for around 15 minutes. It was a relatively cold and windy day but it seemed as if some heat was trapped under the canopy of the denser forest up the hill by the fallen tree. I heard a few calls from crows and also chirping from some chipmunks. The is definitely a significant change that the forest has gone through since I was last there but nothing too crazy in my location. Most of the leaves on the trees in the understory haven’t even changed yet.
There were more leaves on the ground this time compared to last, when it was mostly just needles. It looks like the ash and beech trees have already dropped their leaves, while most of the maples still have the majority of their leaves which remain mostly green.
12/1/24
Today is the last day of Thanksgiving break and my last day at home, I am thrilled to introduce you to my phenology project. It is different in almost every way to my location in Centennial Woods because it is my backyard in New York City.
I live in a neighborhood named Carrol Gardens and there are a lot of nice but small backyards and this is mine. Unlike my phenology location, it has no water feature, there is no canopy, and just a few plants left from the normally teeming summer garden my mom curates.
The things that remain include, dusty miller, the rose, which has been trimmed back, and lilac bush, that my mother has shaped to look like a tree
In the back corner, there is the short but growing Japanese maple and some vines along the iron rods. The ground is littered with leaves, and as my participation in the honorable harvest there, I put some seeds in the garden for birds to come and get. There is no natural landscape here just a wall and some dirt but this is about the extent of my exposure to nature in the city at home. It makes me even more appreciative of my natural surroundings here at UVM. https://maps.app.goo.gl/gNYECbkoGxQjaGg59
12/8/24
Winter has finally arrived. The leaves on the trees have all fallen except some Norway maple which are hanging on to their orangey-yellow leaves and the coniferous trees and their needles. Walking down to the spot by the river it was eerily quiet and all you could hear was the wind whistling through the trees. The snow crunched under my boots on the path to the fallen tree by the stream.
Walking down further, I noticed what looked like rabbit tracks right at the fork in the path leading west of the river (refer to the map above).
Once at my spot, I noticed that under one of the fallen trees, a glimpse of fall remained in this winter wonderland, some ferns remained to poke out of the snow. I dug out a small square of snow and looked at the ground underneath the snow, the fall leaves and dirt were beginning to mix in decomposition.
I noticed that the southern stand trees had a lot of leaves because of the presence of the Norway maple compared to the Northern stand which is mostly softwoods and mostly tall Eastern white pines. The snow coating the trunk of the trees when facing north also tells you that the wind is coming up from the south carrying the snow.
It was a crisp cool air that was made colder by the little amount of wind that made it through the tree stand. I could not hear any animals but I didn’t wait as long as I did for my 11/4 entry because it was cold. Instead of a recording of the birdsong here is what I listened to on my walk back up from my spot. Winter Wonder Land.
Here are three photos stitched together from the safe spot from three different times I visited illustrating the changing of the seasons.
What aspects of your phenology place do you enjoy the most? I enjoyed getting to know my location and experiencing the changing of the seasons, I plan on continuing to visit my location even after this project is due, I will head back tomorrow after my exams to destress from this hectic week. Not only did visiting the same location give me a better understanding of the natural surroundings of my new home here at UVM it gave me a sense of place, something that is my own. I am really grateful to have that in a new place and time in my life.
