Autumn's starting to look peaked #phenology

More and more trees are bare of leaves. The storms that came through over the weekend and the winds continuing through tomorrow have denuded almost all the maples, aspens and birch. Tamarack needles/leaves are dropping. The stubborn oaks are still reticent to drop any more leaves than absolutely necessary. Skeleton branches grasping for the moon will make for a more scary Halloween.

when will snow flakes cover bare branches?

Photo by J. Harrington

Weather forecasts keep changing, but it looks like, for the first time this season, we may have snow by Friday. As soon as we finish this posting, we'll go plug in the bird bath heater, after checking to be sure no gray tree frogs think it's their Winter home. Overnight temperatures have started to consistently drop below freezing. Even the mums are starting to look a little Autumn-worn. Will deer hunters have "tracking snow" this year?

sandhill cranes migrating

Photo by J. Harrington

We saw a small family of sandhill cranes in one of the wetland / weed fields today. They'll probably start to move South, as will some of the Canada geese, when the wind shifts around out of the North, instead of the Southerly direction it's been blowing for the past several days. This is peak transition season it seems. It includes a new moon cycle that started a few days ago. We've now a waxing crescent moon that will be close to full on Halloween. We certainly don't intent to rush the season. It's doing a fine job of that all by itself. To be honest, we won't mind taking an extended break from pulling buckthorn, but we're not quite there yet.

                     October

By Jacob Polley

Although a tide turns in the trees

the moon doesn't turn the leaves,

though chimneys smoke and blue concedes

to bluer home-time dark.

Though restless leaves submerge the park

in yellow shallows, ankle-deep,

and through each tree the moon shows, halved

or quartered or complete,

the moon's no fruit and has no seed,

and turns no tide of leaves on paths

that still persist but do not lead

where they did before dark.

Although the moonstruck pond stares hard

the moon looks elsewhere. Manholes breathe.

Each mind's a different, distant world

this same moon will not leave.

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