Video Recording @ Hopkins By: Claudia Corona             11/15/09

There was an hour until sundown when I had walked into Ford Glen Brook. I decided to come this late in the day because I was hoping to get video recording of any animals that usually start to come out later in the day for nightly escapades.

I decided to make my first video recording about 20 meters from the trail entrance, so that I would be able to capture more of the processes going on in the forest. I stood in the middle of the forest and made a 360 degree turn with my camera, in order to show how everything looked here at this time.

It was a quieter day than usual, there was no pitter-patter of rain drops on leaves, no rustling of leaves, even the brook seemed quieter. Since the last time I had visited, not much rain had fallen on the college, or Hopkins Forest. Trail lines were blurred by piles of leaves, dead branches, and the lack of plant growth on the edges. Most of the trees had now completely lost their leaves, putting up a stark whitish-grey contrast against the dimming blue-orange sky. The only trees that hadn’t lost their leaves yet and wouldn’t for the rest of the season were the Hemlock trees. The reason for this is because Hemlocks are adapted to cope with heavy to very heavy winter snowfall and tolerate ice storms better than most other trees, which would explain why they still maintain their evergreen leaves while every other tree species is bare and pale.

The trail I was on was muddy and wet with small pools of water here and there. Last week there had been a small stream trickling down this very same trail that eventually ended up filling a small pool of water to the side of the path. But now, the stream no longer had the water volume to stay together as one single body of water. The lack of significant rain this past week most likely attributed to it breaking of into random small pools of water. If there had been more consistent rain, the middle of the Ford Glen Brook trail would probably have a bigger, stronger stream coursing through it, on its way down to meet the brook.

Walking to the brook, the loudest noise that I could here was the crunching of leaves, thanks to my hiking boots. Dry brown leaves, fallen pine cones and ferns were all that I could see on the ground. I noticed that the sounds of rushing water weren’t as loud as before. As I walked closer to the brook, I noticed that the amount of water in the brook had noticeably decreased. I could see where the water level had risen to before, about half-a-foot above its current height. The lack of rain also explained why the brook was not as “filled” or loud as before, there was less water to hit the rocks, to smack against the fallen logs, or to just run through the brook, which is why the brook seemed lacking in hubbub.

It was around 4:15 p.m. when I started hiking back up from the brook and towards the trail. It was getting darker, and I wanted to leave before nightfall, but then I noticed the sunset.  It was the first time since I’d begun journaling at this site that I had seen a sunset; usually, there were trees blocking the sunlight with their branches of leaves, but not this time. Just like there were no leaves to be rustled by the wind, there were no leaves to stop the sun from sending its last rays of light through the forest, illuminating the forest for a couple more seconds, just before it set behind the mountains, and nightfall spread across the sky.

The sites witnessed today, of bare trees, dry leaves, and no fauna show how this site is ready for winter. Trees have shed their leaves to store energy, and plants have receded underground to stay in during the winter months. It seems like this site is ready to “sleep” and have the seasons blanket the site with layer upon layer of snow. It shouldn’t be too long now until it snows, especially since we are now halfway through November and winter is only a couple of weeks away.

Stephen Maier

15 November 2009

Lions and tigers and bears may exist in the forest along the Yellow Brick Road, but horses and cows are the only large animals I can find in the West Clark Woods. However, yesterday, November 14, 2009, I spoke with a local citizen and frequent visitor of Stone Hill, and he enlightened me about the wildlife of Williamstown. He told me that a friend of his saw a bear and two cubs running along Scott Hill Road a week ago. This news silenced me. Bears really do live here. Should I be concerned when venturing into the woods alone? I’d like to think a bear would pick on something his own size, so I rid the grizzly image from my mind.

Today, I have come to take a video of my site. But the weather is dark, cold, dreary, and rainy. There isn’t much happening within the site. However, I do begin to think about where all of this rainwater is going. Not to mention, about two weeks ago the fifty-year flood inundated Williamstown, too. Where does the water drain and why is the wetland not filling up with water? I believe that the rainwater from Stone Hill drains towards the West Clark Woods and runs downhill to the wetlands. This would lead me to believe the wetland has experienced a rise in water level; however I know the water level has resisted fluctuation. The water level has remained nearly constant since my first visit. I believe there is an external drainage at the other end, that may flow beneath Route 2/Route 7, which I have just noticed is visible from my site. This drainage allows water to flow away from the wetland preventing a standing body of water from forming.

Also, the rocks that I discovered and mentioned in a previous journal entry seem to have been dumped here by humans. There are far too many in such a concentrated area to be naturally occurring. They must have been from above, on the cultivated land of Stone Hill.

Reminiscing about the taste of hemlocks also helped connect me to my site. Why were these low lying hemlock trees untouched but the other plants on the ground, such as the honeysuckle, were cleaned of their fruit? The horses, cows, bears, deer, and other animals that roam these woods enjoy the berries but loathe the taste of the hemlock needles, just as I did. The needles not only taste bitter, but they also must torment the stomachs of these animals and perhaps scratch their throats while swallowing. It is no surprise they leave the hemlocks alone.

I recorded a herd of cows grazing in a leaf pile for a minute today. The cows contribute greatly to the dynamics of the West Clark Woods. They are responsible for clearing the grass, and apparently the leaves, and also for the plentiful amounts of cow pies littering the ground. However, they are not entirely to blame for the fecal matter, for the horses, which I interacted with last week, also contribute. The cows and horses, I imagine, consume leaves from the lower, or younger, trees and the berries on trees they can reach. With this in mind, each pile of feces may potentially be planting the next generation of berry bushes in the West Clark Woods. This may not, however, be the best situation, for most of the berry-bearing shrubs are invasive ornamentals, which inhabit and inhibit. They spread and invade the land of the native plants, preventing them from flourishing.

Today, November 15, 2009, I revisited my site to take another look. I wanted to survey the land and film some of its beauty. The camera does not focus on anything in particular. It scans the wetland, and then moves to the woods, then down to a small rock pile, and subsequently to the water flowing towards the wetland. During this, the light is important to notice. Though it is not a sunny day, there is still a difference between light in the forest and light outside, even if it is barely noticeable. All of the leaves of the deciduous trees, the paper, black, and yellow birches, have fallen but there is still cover being provided to the woods. This is due to the coniferous trees; the hemlocks that remain fully covered all year round creating the effect of light outside the woods and darkness within them. This is crucial for the wildlife, for during the winter, the forest provides a place to evade too much snow, and during the summer, the forest provides shade to escape the beating sunshine.

Wrapping things up, the West Clark Woods seem to be a place where the cows and horses can congregate to avoid inclement weather or sunburn. They are the most frequent visitors and I may be next in line. There is still much to learn about these woods, but I come closer and closer to understanding their past with each visit.

On Sunday, November 15^th, at around noon, the weather was again cloudy and around fifty degrees. In this week’s blog, instead of including just a description and analysis of our site, we were also required to make a three minute video recording of our site.

I began my video at the beginning of Tyler Path. I immediately realized that my site had changed a great deal as winter continues to come closer. The forest floor is now completely covered with leaves and only a few sugar maples are still holding onto their leaves. I noticed that these maples that still had their leaves were the ones that were farthest away from the artificial light. As stated before in one of my previous blogs, those trees closer to the lights lost their leaves before those trees farther away from the lights, just as those leaves at the tops of trees (the ones closer to the sun) fell before the leaves closer to the base of the tree. With most of the leaves fallen, I could see the entirety of my site quite clearly.

Through the Periwinkle Valley, I filmed both the Barred Owl Tree and the fallen tree that I had climbed in a previous blog. With the green leaves now gone, the whitish bark of the Barred Owl tree could be seen from across my site. I have not seen the barred owl since that first sighting, so I was unfortunately not able to catch it on film. Above the fallen tree next to the Barred Owl Tree, one can see the few evergreens that reside in my site. There are not that many of them, but they are generally located around the sides of my site instead of in the center. Why is this? The evergreens also live in clusters instead of spreading out. Besides the sugar maples, I noticed this was the case with all the plants in my site. The periwinkles are located in one large cluster and so are the honeysuckles. This is most likely because the seeds are dispersed in close proximity to the parent plant.

I was surprised that I saw so few mammals and birds on this trip. I was not able to get any squirrels or chipmunks on tape, and I only heard the sound of a few birds and crows, but was not able to film them. Panning to the entrance of my site, I was able to capture Tyler House which had more activity than usual. Most of the parking lot was filled with cars, and more people than usual were making their way to and from Tyler House. I have come to notice that Tyler House on Sunday afternoons is usually more active than at the same time on Friday. This is probably because most students are in classes on Friday, while students are free on Sunday afternoons.

Although there were not any animals, besides humans, that I could see, there were still a few signs of the small creatures that usually abound within Tyler. I was able to film the holes made in one of the trees next to the Barred Owl tree. These were most likely made by a type of woodpecker in the area. I have not been able to spot it yet, but hopefully it will appear in the near future. I could also hear multiple birds, although I could not see them. The only one I could identify was the crow, and I also heard the high pitched squeak of one of the chipmunks that I see quite often.

I ended my video at the farthest side opposite the Barred Owl Tree where one of my sightings of the deer occurred. The path on this side leads out of my site and to the houses behind Tyler Woods. Within this shot, I captured a gnarled tree, which I think is a maple. This tree has a thick trunk and looks old. I would like to determine the species of the tree and how old it actually is. It would also be interesting to find out what is the oldest tree in my site. I would guess that since I believe this site to be relatively young, that the trees here would be young as well. Hopefully I can find this out next week once I research the history of my site.

Eric Outterson

November 13^th 2009

Natural History of the Berkshires

Video

I arrived to film excited and ready for anything.  In the early stages of winter, however, I shouldn’t have been surprised that the only creature I saw was a solitary squirrel trying to do his best to pack on the winter pounds before the real cold strikes.  It was still a nice day, however, at about 65 degrees with a light breeze.  As a set up my camera, the bells at the Thompson memorial chapel began to play and I began a closer examination of my site.

Between the beginning of November and November 13^th, the Stetson woods changed completely.  What was once a vibrant lot with thick grass, flower and shrub cover at the wood’s edge had thinned out to only bare trees.  The leaf cover in the woods, is thick and primarily composed of maple.  Now, the wood edges, previously overrun by small shrubby plants, are all clear.

The video of my site plays as follows:

0-12 seconds:

Southwest corner.

First looking east, then panning North.

Here we can begin to see the thinned out woods bordered by the low grasses for one to three feet to the curb.  The massive trees that we see are cottonwoods.

12-31 seconds:

Southeastern corner.

First face towards Thompson memorial chapel to the south and then face north to look at sidewalk bordering the Eastern side of the Stetson woods.

Here you can hear the bells!  Since the site is so close to the chapel, the bells are quite frequently a sound in the environment.  As the camera pans down to look at the eastern side of Stetson woods, you can see the distinct separation between the woods and the grassy area.

32-41 seconds:

Northeast corner at the bottom of the sidewalk.

Pan from facing South to West.

Again, still hearing the bells, you can get a better idea of the terrain, by looking at the steepness down the sidewalk.  Panning over to the cars, you can see the maple which hangs over them

42-46 seconds:

100 yards North of the site in the lower Stetson Parking lot woods.

You can see here the huge size of the cottonwoods in Stetson Forest.  Some of them extend higher than Thompson memorial Chapel itself.

47-58 seconds:

On the edge of the forest here, I spotted the only signs of animal life here right now.  This was a squirrel engaged in picking up in a few small nuts.  In addition to this squirrel I saw one other.

59-1:04 seconds:

In the center of the woods

Begins facing south, turns east.

The camera passes a sugar maple before settling on a three and a half foot wide cottonwood at the end.

1:05-1:10 seconds:

North of the Stetson woods in the parking lot, looking south.

These are stumps at the Northwestern corner of the lot indicating the lot was recently culled.  The stumps look relatively fresh, so I imagine that this happened less than five years ago.

1:11-1:33 seconds:

This is from a central point in the woods again, and begins by facing south and slowly turns west.

The schistose rocks that I panned provided a nice home for many small mammals like chipmunks, and skunks.  They also provided me with a nice staircase down into the Stetson Woods

1:34-1:47 seconds:

In the center of the woods, I scanned from the Northeast, (Stetson is in the background) to another huge cottonwood.

1:48-1:59 seconds:

Gives a wide view of the woods from the eastern central part of the woods, and then pans over to a car on the western edge.  The cars are so prevalent, that they too might as well be a natural feature.

Field Blog Journal 7

Video of site

Jon Levinsohn

I went to the cemetery woods on Friday morning, November 13^th, 2009. It was relatively warm for this time of year, 12^O C, with a little wind. It had been dry and relatively warm for the last week. The flags in the cemetery were blowing, though not violently. I brought a recording device to take some video of the area. I started panning across the cemetery, which borders the woods, and the woods themselves from edge of the manicured grass. I then traveled down the slope through the woods, recording my 2-minute journey to the Green River that borders the woods to the north. I immediately noticed how much quicker this journey was than it had been during previous weeks. The main reason for this, besides increasing familiarity with the area, was that all of the leaves were on the ground instead of on plants. As I walked, the camera recorded sound of the crispy crunching of leaves.

Upon reaching the river, I recorded the area along the side of the river where the water will run (I believe this due to both the topography of the land, and the knocked over plants, that lean in the direction of the current), if the river overflows. I also recorded the sand that accumulates next to the river.

I then walked down stream briefly, which I have not done before, because the path was typically practically impassable until the majority of the green vegetation in the area had died. I discovered the large rock, (it appears to be marble; Stockbridge formation), which causes a large riffle, which is responsible for the majority of the noise in my section of woods. The rock has iron supports. They form an upside down “L,” with the long straight portion going into the rock through a drilled hole, with the top of the iron rod bent over the rock.  This unambiguously demonstrates intentional human influence in the area, though there are other structures that further support this conclusion. The purpose of these supports might be to keep the rock in place, though this seems strange, as the rock is so large, I have a hard time envisioning the Green River moving it.

Along either side of the river, there are stone structures. On the north side of the river is the remnants of what appears to be a wall, and is about a dozen feet tall. In similar style, along the southern bank is a wall with a large arch under it, which I pass through. I wonder if these are these stone structures are related to each other, as they seem in similar style. Furthermore, it is possible that the supports in the large rock are also related. Could these be part of an earlier bridge across the river, predating the route 2 crossing to the east?

Then, I filmed some Norway maple seeds falling to the ground. Many already had fallen, but some remained on the trees. I removed them by hand and threw them up into the air and filmed their helicopter-like descent. These seeds strongly resemble the sugar maples’ both in shape and in their helicopter-like behavior when they fall.

I next filmed some seeds sticking to my jacket, as they would stick to an animal’s fur. Though the plant was dried out, I attempted to identify it using the National Audubon Society: Field Guide to New England. I decided that the plant was likely the buttonbush. The seeds attached to my jacket were similar to Velcro ‘s mechanism.

The lone animal I was able to film was a squirrel. It was making lots of noise, chattering and squeaking. What I found most interesting, was that the squirrel was perfectly still while making these noises, which seemed strange to me. By making the noise, the animal was attracting attention to itself, but by not moving it was difficult to find the animal, and I struggled for a minute or so to find the animal, though it was 20 feet away from me.

Sinicariello FJ #7
Wednesday, 11/11/09

I immediately feel a rush of crisp fall air as I begin my walk out to the woods.  It is about 55 degrees and partly cloudy, but the air is cool and a bit nippy, giving hints that winter is on its way.  Since I have not been to observe the site for two weeks now, the changes I find are immense.  The luscious orange leaves that once dotted the treetops and covered the ground are now crunchy, dead and brown.  They no longer flutter into the air when I kick them with my feet, but instead just crumple with each step I take.  I notice that some leaves are grayer than others, and seem to form a path on the ground.  These gray leaves are concentrated in lower areas of land, and I wonder if rain or moisture had any role in this phenomenon.  Because it has not rained in a while, the pool of water at the southeast corner of the wood now has shrunken to a size of about 4 feet x 6 feet, although the sides of the pool remain muddy from the usual water.  

Because the branches of the trees are now bare, one can practically look straight through the woods.  I am able to see the Taconics to the west and many birds flying above the empty canopy, whereas earlier in the year the luscious foliage of the Syndicate Road woods formed a green blanket around me.  The crows are being particularly boisterous today, and I count at least ten flying above the treetops.  After they leave, other birds begin to make themselves heard, such as a sparrow and a chickadee.  In these woods of mostly bare maples, beech, oak and aspen trees, one paper birch to the south is easily spotted due to its clean white bark.  Some small trees still have lime-green leaves and one sugar maple still maintains bright yellow leaves. 

Moving closer to the stream, I realize the quantity of fallen logs in the woods.  The odd thing is that not many of them look as if they are decaying and I do not see any fungi growing on them.  This could be explained by the fact that they are newly fallen logs, or by the more realistic explanation that the conditions favor a slower decay process.  The stream, which runs north into the Hoosic River, is speckled with colorful leaves and stones, creating the perfect picture for a painter.  Because it has not rained in a while, the stream does not hold a ton of water, but has enough to keep trickling and moving.  Many logs have fallen into and across the stream, creating a perfect passage over the waters.  One tree, with many individual branches, grows practically sideways off of the north bank and forms a complete arc over the stream.   

The attached video is a typical representation of the Syndicate Road woods.  It shows the pool of water in the southeast corner of the woods, a squirrel, a car zooming down Syndicate Road, and the stream.  In the background, you can also hear the noise of a nearby lawnmower.  Although the woods may seem as if they are secluded from the outside world, now that the leaves have fallen from the trees the presence of human impact is ever more evident. 

Gordon Smith

Natural History of the Berkshires

11/13/09

Field Blog #7: Update and Video

When I visited my site on Monday (the 9^th of November) this week, it was about 2:30 pm. The weather was partly cloudy with a slight breeze, and was extremely warm: about 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the video that I recorded, I stood in a spot very close to the center of my field site. While standing there, I turned in a circle starting and ending north, turning counter-clockwise. Visible in the panorama that was recorded are several aspects of my field site that may not have been clear in the written field reports. The first is the quite obvious and loud whirring noise that is going on in the background. This noise was coming from construction machinery currently employed on the Lehman building directly to the south of my site. Another important feature of my site is the amount of human traffic within a short proximity. Though only two students were filmed walking on the nearby paths during this video, during peak class changing hours, there are many more. There is also a car visible in the recording, which is another frequent occurrence.

The video also shows the general state of the site. Though I did not focus the camera at the treetops above, they are all completely stripped of leaves, and had been like that since last Thursday (the 5^th). For this reason as well, the ground itself seems much less green and vibrant, as most of the plant life that remains on the ground is covered by brown fallen leaves. These leaves have created a very dry and crackly bed under which, at least in the middle of the site, there is very little growing. The plants that still seem to be thriving are the grasses on the west edge of the site, the wild mustard garlic and the small amount of goutweed that has not been grazed by passing deer.

This is not to say that the site seemed dormant already. I counted more than five different squirrels happily enjoying the warm weather to get out and about in the leaves, and I also heard several birdcalls over the machinery, though I could not identify them or even describe their calls over the noise. Unfortunately, these creatures seemed to have disappeared by the time that I began filming.

Furthermore, the video shows (around the 28^th second) that the patch of ferns that was first sensitive fern and then was replaced by bracken ferns is now completely dead and brown.

I also found several very interesting plants that seem to have gone into dormancy already. Poking out between the brown leaves was the plant that is pictured below.

The plant consisted of a dry, brittle stem tipped with a small cluster of what used to be red berries. Now, these red bulbs seem to merely be the dried outer casings of where the berries used to be. Though not all of them were burst in a way that would suggest a bird having eaten them, the complete ones still crumpled dryly when I put slight pressure on them. This almost makes me want to believe that the contents of the berries had been reabsorbed through the stem because the berries were not eaten, but this does not seem logical evolutionarily to me. I would think that a better survival strategy would be to sacrifice yourself so that your 7 or 8 seeds could be spread. Of course, it is also possible that some insect ate them from the inside, taking the nutrients and leaving the tough outer casing. This plant did have one half grown green shoot at its base, which unfortunately I did not see until I had plucked the plant out of the ground. I only saw one other example of this plant during my inspection of my site, which I left in the ground.

Another interesting find was on the lone Northern White Cedar tree in the southwest corner of my site. At the bottom, the bark seems to have been peeled off, revealing a zigzag, maze-like pattern on the tree of some insect. The tracks seemed to be reasonably thick and wide, thus I would hazard the guess of some sort of beetle. In any case, it does not live there any longer.