Autumn, and especially October, is my favourite time of year. The weather is usually quite appealing, not hot and humid, and there are still lots of things to enjoy out in the natural world. And of course October is the month that I got to marry Marie, almost 50 years ago, and that was a significant reason to be thankful.
I enjoy watching the change in colours, as the autumn season winds down. Here is a progression over the last few weeks, from one of my preferred vantage points.
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| October 8 |
The next one is a bit brighter, sunnier day.
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| October 28 |
And finally, on a partly cloudy but mostly clear sky day.
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| October 31 |
I was out a couple of days ago, but it was quite windy and many of the leaves were off. I don't know what it would look like today, Nov 9, but this is what it looked like out my kitchen window!
It probably wasn't quite so white at Rondeau, as the lake effect would have kept the weather slightly warmer, and any snow that fell would not have lasted long.
A bit earlier, there were some sunny and moderately warm days, which can be interesting. Some butterflies were still flitting about. Nothing rare, but nice to see as the season winds down. I had 6 of the first one...
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| Eastern Comma |
...but only a single of this next one.
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| Mourning Cloak |
Some fungi were still developing. This first one, Destructive Pholiota, had fruiting bodies earlier, but they dropped off, or got knocked off, so they tried again.
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| Oct 28 |
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| Nov 4 |
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| Pear-shaped Puffball |
Other things I took the opportunity to photograph, include:
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| Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar |
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| Marbled Orb Weaver |
Next is the leaf of a rare orchid known as Puttyroot. It is in the later part of the autumn that the leaf appears, and will stay like this all winter, until the flowering stem appears in late May/early June. At that point, the leaves dry up and aren't normally visible when the plant is flowering.
Next is Silky Parchment, another type of fungus.
Wooly Bear Caterpillars are seen quite regularly.
There is still a good variety of birds to be seen at times, flitting about the shrubbery or whatever, seeking sustenance from the berries. White-throated Sparrows, shown first, were quite abundant in dogwood thickets where the berries of Gray Dogwood, or sometimes a non-native rose can be found.
American Robins are migrating in good numbers, and can be found feeding on the berries of Red Cedar.
There was a fairly good crop of acorns this year, so these next three species are all taking advantage of them.
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| Blue Jay |
This Red-bellied Woodpecker is trying to stash an acorn in a tree limb, planning on feeding on it later in the winter.
Wild Turkeys are scattered about, and feed on acorns as well.
Yellow-rumped Warblers are undoubtedly the most common warbler persisting in the area these days. A small number may stick around all winter.
Enjoy any remaining autumn colours....they won't be around much longer!
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