Author: Hamilton Evans

My trip out into the woods today was occupied by lots of life.  Not trees, not people, but animals.  When walking into the woods, I was immediately struck by footprints I saw in the snow.  They walked from the trail to the woods about 10-15 feet in, walked around in two circles, then doubled back right back where they came from and back onto the trail.  After inspecting these prints, I came to the conclusion that it was just a dog, but a dog off of its leash as there were no human prints nearby.  Fascinated, I continued on.

Not long after the dog prints I saw, I found a bird nest.  Normally when I picture bird nests, they are high up in the trees, but not at the tops as that would expose them to wind and predators.  This bird nest, however, was no more than 3 feet off of the ground in a combination of a small tree and lots of twigs and such.  Though this bird nest was covered in snow, I was curious to why the bird would nest so low to the ground.  After looking into research for the types of birds and why they would nest low to the ground I was unable to find an exact species of bird, but I did find that birds would nest lower, especially during the winter, to avoid the harsh winds and weather that could damage the eggs and nest structure.  Having a nest that is close to the ground and in some shelter helps protect the eggs and ensure that they have a better chance of survival.  As I continued walking and heard bird calls overhead, I could not help but thinking what if one of those birds were the one that was born out of this nest.  

My final encounter was with woodpecker holes.  After walking into the trees a little bit to observe the holes more closely, it seemed apparent that I was looking at the holes from a pileated woodpecker.  The holes were large and there was lots of damage to the surrounding area on the trees.  When I compared these holes with what we learned in class, I confirmed my suspicion.  When I found a location and sat and observed the trees and surrounding forest, I couldn’t help but think about the animal signs that I had seen and what other animals and marks they had left even just in the surrounding areas.  

As I journeyed back through the Jackson Property, I see the familiar trees from the identification game we played only two weeks before.  On the same trail, I notice lots of differences from our last trip.  There is more snow, similarly icy but definitely more prevalent.  Coming off of some of the leaves of the trees are small icicles, and the weather is definitely a little colder, though the skies have cleared up some since our earlier visit. I walk through the grove of great red oaks (Quercus rubra), with white pine (Pinus strobus) and american beech (Fagus grandifolia) spread throughout.  

As I am walking back to my chosen location to sit and observe, a tree I remember from last time catches my eye: the scots pine (Pinus sylvestris).  I remember these specifically because of their vibrant red-orange bark towards the top of the trees making them very distinctive.  Though I did research into why exactly the pines get their color, I was unsuccessful and instead found information on their flakey bark and how it creates a good environment for insects, especially pine moth larvae (Lepidoptera spp.).  Among the pine species, the scots pine, the red pine, and the austrian pine are the species that are most often targeted by moths because of the shelter their bark provides, among other things.  Young pine moths, especially in early spring, feed extensively on the shoots and the bases of the scots pine branches.  This can continue for 2-3 months, until eventually the needles turn brown and the branches die, causing obvious damage to the trees.  In addition, you can see locations where the pine moths infest the trees because the trees will ooze lots of sap from those areas, giving the appearance of candle wax dripping down the sides of the trees.  Though I looked and saw some evidence of this in the form of sap on the trees, it is impossible to know whether or not this was caused by moths without any closer inspection.

As I continue on the path, I reach my location to observe, at the edge of the lake looking into the trees and the late afternoon sun.  Overhead I can hear birds and I identify a group of annoying gawking crows (Corvus spp.) flying overhead.  Finally I sat down to observe the lake and the trees.  The water was partially frozen and the different thicknesses are distinct.  I’ve always had the childhood dream of skating on a frozen lake in the backcountry somewhere, but this lake has nowhere near thick enough ice to skate on with the recent warm weather and there’s the issue that I don’t know how to skate…

When I woke up Friday morning and rolled over in bed to grab my water, I looked out of my second floor Coffrin window right at my favorite building on campus: McCardell Bicentennial Hall.  Looking at the building, I picture the inside and the effort that it took to put such an amazing structure together, from the stone to the wood.  Just the day before we had been at the Vermont Family Forest Waterworks, the forests where the wood for the building had come from, and I could not help but picture all of the trees that were harvested and what the forest would look like if they were left to be.  As I came back to reality, I began remembering that we were going to the Snow Bowl today, and quickly my focus switched to that.

After about four runs down the mountain, I decided that on my fifth run I was going to leave my friends and take a more isolated route down the mountain, stopping in the middle of the run to observe the trees, snow, twigs, and stumps that surrounded me.  On my way down, I found the perfect spot and sat down.  Though the sound of the lift can be heard in the background, I turned my focus to the trees and the peaceful calm of my surroundings.  Through heavy snow cover, I identified multiple American Beech trees (Fagus grandifolia), Sugar Maples (Acer saccharum), Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), and at least one pine tree that I could not identify specifically (Pinus spp.).  Though I saw no stumps, twigs, or leaves because of the heavy layer of snow, there were multiple fallen trees surrounding the trail, some of which looked like they had been pulled up from too much snow on their branches, others that were obvious deadfall.  In addition, I was able to find holes in a line in one of the sugar maples, possibly from a yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius).

During my time sitting on the trail the thing that stood out the most was the calm and beauty of the snow.  This trail had not been run since at least the day before and looked almost untouched. The trees had 2+ inches of snow on their branches and in the small valley I was sitting in, there was seemingly no wind.  I could have spent hours there.  As I wrapped up my observations and continued on down the mountain, cutting through the trees, all I want to do is stop longer and observe the trees that I am in.

As I began my walk on the Trail Around Middlebury, the voices and sounds of cars faded.  I turned right off of the trail into an open field and followed four-wheeler tracks.  The signs of human disturbance began to disappear as I reached a large patch of trees.  I walked from the path on a thick layer of leaves until I was immersed in trees, and I sat down against a young Red Oak (Quercus rubra) to begin my observations.

The setting sun broke through the trees to where I was sitting, and immediately I was in awe in the way that the sun rays created streaks of shadows through the branches.  In front of me, on the branches and needles of a White Pine (Pinus strobus), a spiderweb glimmered in a small patch of sunlight.  I then began to look at the trees more closely.  With the exception of a white pine in the distance, I was surrounded by a dense patch of much younger trees, none taller than 20-30 feet.  Though there were a few evergreens interspersed, the trees were mostly deciduous and the ground was covered in a thick layer of leaves.  The trunks of the trees were all thin and their lower branches were mostly broken off, possibly due to how young and dense the forest was.  

After observing the surrounding area and trees, I closed my eyes and turned my focus to the sounds I heard.  Immediately I heard the wind swishing through the trees like a great waterfall, something that I had barely noticed before.  As I opened my eyes and began to watch the trees sway in the wind, I looked up and saw an empty bird’s nest amongst the branches of one of the taller American Beech trees (Fagus americana).  As my time in the woods came to an end and I began to walk back, the picture of the sun breaking through the swaying trees remained in my head.