Phenological Changes
My site has gone through many phonological changes in the past month or so. for starters there has been a significant amount of snowfall, which has built up along the sides of the stream. The stream has narrowed as well, causing increased flow rate in the stream. The increased snow has covered most of the shrubs and underbrush leaving only large bushes and fully grown trees. Unfortunately we missed the full effect of the phenological changes because by the time I go to my site there had been a full day of warm warm weather and it was clear to see. My suspicion about the melting was further confirmed by the lack of shallow footprints from smaller animals. However the large impression that was left by a deer remained as well as the tracks it left when it was spooked and ran off.
Wildlife
At my site there was clear evidence of a deer that had rested near the trail. there was some foot prints leading up to the large depression in the snow. On the other side of this depression there was a set of footprints that look a lot more frantic than the others. The prints also get further and further apart as they get further from the trail, I can only assume this meant that the deer was spooked by something coming down the trail. Deer do have predators so it could have been spooked off by a coyote but i think that the most likely reason it ran off is because a person or dog was coming down the trail. There was many spots on the trees and shrubs around the tracts that also suggest that this was a deer.
Deer in the winter remain in the snow covered woods as opposed to migrating to warmer weather. They nibble on bark and any remaining foliage or buds that they can find. They are nocturnal for the most part but occasionally they come out at the day time.
