Over the past couple of weeks, i’ve been recording signs of life all across burlington.
The most significant to me was going to delta park and walking across the frozen Winooski River to reach Halfmoon Cove. This area was rich with wetland plant as well as beaver lodges. There was a similar structure to a beaver lodge that had more reeds than wood in it which I think may have been the result of beavers abandoning the structure and some other animals such as a muskrat moved in and is inhabiting it. There were tracks around and on top of the structures which supported my idea that these structures are in active use.
On a sunday morning in which Burlington was expected to get a foot of snow that day, I went with my friend to Centennial Woods to go birding. This was my first time birding and it was certainly a memorable one. Over the course of a very snowy trek through the woods, we saw one bird. That bird however was the majestic pileated woodpecker which we find identified by hearing its pecking on tree and waited until it eventually it flew to a tree in view.
In addition to these very natural environments, I identified a variety of trees that I came across Burlington. An easy to identify one was American Beech as they are one of the few deciduous trees that keep their leaves over winter rather than dropping them. This gives them a similar advantage that many evergreens have in conserving energy by not needing to regrow leaves which is especially beneficial in areas that are low in nutrients. I also saw a tree that was definitely in the Birch family and what I think was a Yellow Birch due to the coloring of the bark.
Link to INaturalist profile