Tree Identification

When I walked down to the boardwalk this weekend, I noticed that there were several of the same type of trees lined up along the boardwalk. Due to their unnatural placement, I reasoned that these trees were planted here for aesthetic appeal. There were not many other trees around the area, so I walked further towards Lake Street in order to identify more trees. Because tree identification is not my specialty, and because it is winter, I used some resources to help me identify the trees in the area. I found a website that discusses the trees found by the Burlington waterfront:
http://www.branchoutburlington.org/events/treewalk/WaterfrontTreeWalk.pdf

According to this website, created by "Branch Out Burlington", the trees that were planted along the boardwalk are Silver Linden (Tilia tomentosa). This shade tree is native to Eurasia, and is planted because it is very resilient and able to grow in urban conditions.

The next closest tree near the boardwalk is the Chanticleer Callery Pear (Pyrus calleryana 'Chanticleer'), which is an ornamental Pear tree of the Rose family. Unlike the Silver Linden, which were planted in rows, only one Chanticleer Callery Pear tree can be found near the boardwalk.

The next three types of trees can be found on Lake Street, a little east of the lookout. These trees are the Norway Maple (Acer plantanoides) and the Freeman Maple (Acer x freemanii) of the Maple family, and the Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) of the Rose family.

February 12, 2011: Patterns by the Boardwalk

During my second visit to the boardwalk, I was eating breakfast with some friends at the Skinny Pancake and ventured down to the lake while I waited for my food. Rather than going to the lookout, I walked straight onto the lake, which was frozen solid and could easily support my weight. The area was full of patterns: the cracks on the ice, the white bubbles of air that had accumulated underneath the surface of the dark-colored ice, the swarms of birds (were they seagulls?) that flew overhead, and the silence that surrounded the area. Not a single person was in sight, and so I sat down on the icy lake and watch the birds. I walked under the wooden lookout and noticed that thick blankets of ice had formed around the poles that support the lookout. A green algae-like substance had also formed on the wooden poles. Nestled deep under the lookout were a few birds, who seemed to be hiding from the wind and cold.

First Visit-February 8, 2011

On my first visit to the boardwalk, I approached my place in an interesting way. It was a frigid day in early February. The sky was foggy, the frigid wind was blowing, and the ground was covered in freshly fallen snow. As I was searching for a place for my phenology project, I initially walked to the lookout at Battery Park on Battery Street. I took a few pictures of the trees and out over the lake to what, on a clear day, would have been a beautiful view. However, I decided that I wanted to be closer to the lake, and so I ventured down toward the Skinny Pancake, one of my favorite places to eat in Burlington. As I got down toward the lake, I noticed a few seagulls flying overhead, and I stomped through the snow towards the lookout on the boardwalk, where snow-covered benches sat. The immense amount of snow that had accumulated on and around these benches made it apparent that no one had come to sit by the lake in quite some time. The fog was so heavy that I could not even make out the mountains on the New York side of the lake.