Fall is Wrapping Up
"Despite the weird weather we have experienced late summer and into the fall, nature still has a variety of gifts for us to observe and be grateful for".
The Red Wing Arts Festival prides itself in being scheduled at the peak of our fall color season. This year October 10th was not displaying the best fall colors.
It seems the abnormally warm warm fall temperatures, fluctuating moisture extremes and excessive summer heat were primary factors that delayed and muted our fall colors. This photo I took on October 19th shows many trees still in their dark green foliage.
On October 21, Mark Warrington and his grandson were walking through the backyard on their way to the beach when they happened upon this Northern Water Snake.
This non-venomous, medium length snake is primarily active during the day. It is most often found in vegetation along or swimming in water near the river. Their primary food consists of frogs, tadpoles, small fish and mammals.
The past several months, I have received numerous reports of Red-Headed Woodpecker observations. It seems the increase of sightings might be due to the increase in food provided by all the dead ash trees.
Crystal Olson and her husband Paul passed along this photo on October 22nd. They have frequently observed this woodpecker on a dead ash tree at the edge of their yard. It also enjoys feeding the suet at their feeder and finishes up with a drink at the birdbath.
One of the observations I made in October as I walked the trail was the large number of rough follicles of the milkweed plant splitting open revealing rows of tightly packed seeds.
On clear October days, they loosened, spreading tufts of white hairs, drifting over the prairie like tiny parachutes.
During World War II milkweed down was often the only thing that kept a downed aviator or a soaking wet sailor from slipping under the waves. This material was used as an all-purpose filler for floating devices after the supply of Asian kapok was cut off from southeast Asia.
As the colors faded in the Wacouta prairie in October, one plant stuck out and above the rest of the prairie plants. Round-Headed Bush Clover is an important larval host plant for various butterflies and moths. Their seeds are also consumed by gamebirds and songbirds. No doubt the resident pheasants I hear and observe along the trail benefit from this plant.
This Alternate-Leaf Dogwood along the trail provided a wonderful colorful contrast against the drab prairie and surrounding bluffs.
As we move closer to winter and colder weather, chickadees, woodpeckers and white-breasted nuthatches become more frequent visitors to our bird feeders. Male and females have the same colored plumage.
Nuthatches have the unique ability of perching upside down on a tree trunk and walking on the underside of a branch. This incredible climbing ability is aided by an extra long hind toe nail. It is nearly twice as long as the front toe claws.
Aspen trees commonly rise to a height of 40 to 50 feet and can live more than a century. This photo demonstrates a clone or group of genetically identical individuals.
All members of such a clone will be of the same sex, have same colored bark and their leaves turn the same shade of yellow in the fall. These color changes take place at the same time.
As we move into November with shorter periods of daylight, the sunrises we observe are much more colorful. This happens because of a lower sun angle allowing light to travel through more of our atmosphere. These conditions allow more long wavelength colors to become visible.
If you are a person who gets upset with a squirrel digging up your tulip bulbs in the spring or cleaning out the seeds from your bird feeder, here is a new antic.
In preparation for Halloween, our daughter Angie and her family brought home three pumpkins to be carved for the big night. When they woke up last Saturday morning, they discovered this squirrel had already started the project.
Comments