It was a cloudy day at Redstone Quarry but it was still in the prettiest state that I have ever seen it in. The most prominent change was the lack of ice. Previously, the two ponds, the cliff face, and many parts of the exposed rock were covered in ice, varying in thickness.
The next big change was the major increase in green. Last fall the landscape was dominated by the red of the cliffs, the brown of fallen leaves, and the brown of the dirty water. In the winter, the cliff looked more brown than red and the white ice was brown where it had become dirty. In contrast, the green of buds and new leaves was easy to spot! The heavy rain in the past days helped to make the grass even greener. A new find was copious amounts of wild onion grass.
Signs of Life on Mars
(Mars is made of red-stone. Ha ha.)
Even as there was major change from the last time I visited, there were signs of things to come everywhere. From the yellowed dead reeds there was new green shoots popping up. In the fall, the ponds were covered in algae and there are new patches of it growing. Of course the leaves are starting to grow in, and buds and pinecones are appearing steadily.
Animals Friends
I saw and heard a variety of animals. I saw and heard many birds, including: a black capped chickadee, a cardinal, a tufted titmouse, a song sparrow, a seagull, and a house finch. I also saw the typical fare of squirrels and new gnats.
The best thing after seeing a kingfisher during our lab was seeing a fox when visiting my phenology spot. He moved too fast to be caught by our measly human scales of time (I couldn’t get a picture he ran away too fast).
WARNING: very gross!
When walking around, on the Northern Red Cedars I noticed strange orange things growing. They were on so many trees. They’re so nasty looking, but they’re a major find so I must include them. I found out using INaturalist that it is juniper apple rust. It’s gross, I hate it, but here are the pictures!
Pretty flowers to cleanse your eyes:
