My Phenology Diary, Part 2
Last updated June 9, 2020
I started my phenology diary in mid-March, 2020; you can see the first four entries here. The world is a different place now, with an ongoing pandemic and a growing movement for racial justice. I’m hoping for a world where everyone can feel safe going about their daily lives, including going out and observing the natural world.
This blog post documents the ongoing changes in the Cayuga Nature Center’s trees, taking us from cold spring days to days that feel like early summer.
Entry 5: April 22, 2020
Snow in the air again. On this particular day I’d like to see a change in the weather. Could I order up something warmer, a little more spring-like? Maybe I’ll have more luck tomorrow, because the nature of spring, and of the weather, is that it varies from day to day.
Knowing the weather on any given day tells you what to wear when you go outside. But climate is a different story: knowing the climate tells you what clothing to own. And we can only learn about shifts in climate by looking at data over several decades. Trees are sensitive to the climate; you’ll find a different set of trees growing in Maine than in Mississippi. So it’s not surprising that trees are sensitive to changes in the climate as well. This video talks a bit about how climate change and spring tree phenology are related.
Entry 6: May 2, 2020
The buds are now breaking on all of the trees on the Cayuga Nature Center’s phenology trail. If you’re submitting observations to the Nature’s Notebook citizen science project, now is a busy time. The initial stages of tree awakening—breaking buds, emerging leaves, and increasing leaf size—are short-lived, and images of these phenophases (life stages) can be really helpful in understanding what’s happening.
Entry 7: May 19, 2020
Another fleeting and beautiful phase of spring in Central New York is when the Eastern Redbuds bloom. This event is worthy of a video to celebrate it! Many people plant these trees around their homes because of their ornamental beauty, both their bright pink flowers and their heart-shaped leaves. Eastern Redbuds are native to this part of the world, so you can also find them in the wild. When you come upon one in bloom, it feels like you’ve discovered treasure. Hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees are attracted to their flowers for nectar and pollen, and according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “the flowers can be fried and eaten.”
Entry 8: May 23, 2020
When I first started observing tree phenophases, I looked at a lot of reference images to help me understand what I was seeing. I still find these types of images useful. Here’s a set that I took this spring, for our Sugar Maple.
Dormant bud (March 28, 2020)
Just waiting and waiting. When a bud is dormant you can’t tell for sure if it’s a leaf bud or a flower bud, though I’m told that if it’s long and pointy at the tip of a branch it’s likely to be a leaf bud.
Initial bud break (April 22, 2020)
The bud scales have opened up but the leaf tips are still tightly closed. They’re not quite ready yet.
Continuing bud break (May 2, 2020)
Now we can see that this bud contains leaves, not flowers.
Continuing bud break (May 2, 2020)
The leaves are even more evident on this bud. But we won’t declare this as “leaves” when submitting observations to the National Phenology Network, because we don’t see the leaf stalks yet.
Leaves (May 6, 2020)
Now the leaf stalks are visible. Leaves have officially emerged.
Increasing leaf size (May 14, 2020)
The umbrella stage (not a technical term).
Leaves (May 19, 2020)
Now these look like the maple leaves we know, from the Canadian flag and that jug of maple syrup in the kitchen.
Entry 9: June 4, 2020
How do you define the seasons? Some say summer starts with the end of the school year. Others go by the astronomical calendar and say that summer starts at the summer equinox. I always preferred going by the month, so once it’s June it feels like summer to me. This last video shows some of our trees in early June, and poses questions that have occurred to me as I’ve been observing the trees.
That wraps up my spring phenology diary. Beyond spring, more change is on the way. I’m going to keep looking closely at trees, and I hope you will, too.