Phenologically Speaking

Phenology Home Report a Sighting Shelburne Sightings Events Calendar Articles

Join the PLACE Program in exploring and documenting the phenology of the town of Shelburne. Phenology is the study of nature's events—how plants and animals respond to seasonal cycles. The blossoming of the first hepatica through the leaf litter in early spring, the first ethereal song of the hermit thrush, the annual migration of salamanders and frogs to their breeding grounds, the first flashes of fireflies on warm summer evenings—these are some of the phenological events of our passing seasons. Year after year, many people look forward to observing and celebrating these annual milestones.

Jefferson Salamander (Ambystoma jeffersonianum) Egg Mass, April 4th

Why is this important?

Phenology is a framework for storytelling. This project aims to bring together the Shelburne community to discover and tell the story of their place. Seasonal natural events will be tracked from year to year so that comparisons can be made and trends can be analyzed. These trends may indicate the effects of environmental changes (such as global warming, development, or habitat loss) on plant and animal cycles and consequently help inform decision-making processes.

Additionally, this project aims to:

• serve as a reference for the Shelburne community—alerting community members, educators, and visitors to the times and places of exciting phenological events
  
  

  Hepatica acutiloba April 15th

• serve as a component of the PLACE Program's focus on the town of Shelburne as a case study for other town-wide, place-based landscape analysis and community education programs

Please Join Us!!!

We need your help collecting data for this year-long project. Become a partner, join us for scheduled field walks, or record and share your own observations using this online form. School groups interested in linking up with this project are strongly encouraged to contact Matt Kolan for more information.

Matt Kolan
Field Naturalist Program
Department of Botany
University of Vermont
Burlington, VT 05405
Matthew.Kolan@uvm.edu
(802) 656-0423