FJ Delta

Date: 28 May 2021
Time: 6:45 a.m.- 11:45 a.m.
Location: Delta Park in Colchester, VT
Weather: Mostly cloudy, ~40ºF, mild to moderate winds
Habitat: Delta Park is a beachy marsh area off of Lake Champlain in Colchester. It has a small fine sand shore that spans about 30 m with a lot of driftwood including whole tree trunks. This swiftly changes into marsh land with squishy woodchip areas creating the banks and many reeds and cattails leading into the open water. These banks were very wet and moist which may be from the woodchips ability to retain water or perhaps another substance underneath the chips such as peat. I believe the woodchips are from an anthropogenic source to extend the area of the shore. This grass and reed vegetation was very dense and thick so much that you could not see past two plants deep. The grasses here and along the beach shore extended into the shallow water. There were also large patches of the common reed which attracted different birds than would be present in the marsh reeds. A couple of trees and woody shrubs were present along this shore area along the delta. The tree prominent in this area is Silver Maples that are currently producing samara seeds, or helicopter seeds. All of the vegetation here was bright green and very healthy.
Behind this shore area is the bike path which runs through Colchester to Burlington. In this area were a variety of trees including the following: White Oak, Red Oak, Ash, Red Maple, and Silver Maple. This wooded area was entirely deciduous and the maples here were also producing samara seeds. The most prominent trees seemed to be the ash trees and perhaps White Oak. The ground was covered in leaf litter, the occasional downed tree, and many downed branches. The canopy was only about 75% full and the trees were on average under 30 years old. There was also plenty of ferns, one of the species being Ostrich Fern, and some other leafy plants. A few woody shrubs were also present closer to the raised pathway that produced small white flowers. This path led to a wooded bridge that passed over the Winooski River to the Mayes Landing natural area in Burlington. The shore on the Delta Park side was similar to the shore at the beginning of the park, but has a larger stretch of sanded beach, about 100 m that could be seen from the bridge. There were not marshy areas on this shore touching the river, however, there were marsh areas behind the sand dune which had a small body of water behind the patch of common reeds.

Above Water: Caspian Tern, Ring-billed Gull, Osprey
Emergent Vegetation: Red-winged Blackbird, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Marsh Wren
Mudflats: Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper
Open Water: Mallard, Wood Duck, Canada Goose
Shrubland: Gray Catbird
Deciduous Forest: American Redstart, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher

Posted on 28 May, 2021 18:10 by catherinegullo22