October highlights #phenology

The first full moon of October, the Harvest or Leaves changing color moon, occurs tonight. The second full moon this month falls on Halloween, which means it's a blue moon and also the Hunter's or Falling leaves moon.

Photo by J. Harrington

A day or so ago we noticed, courtesy of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and one of the local offices of the National Weather Service, a comparison of peak leaf color development for this year and each of the past two [see below]. The wide variations are not just in our imaginations or memory failures. While it's been brisk here today in East Central Minnesota, this morning it snowed up along the Lake Superior shore in northern Minnesota.

That, combined with today's high temperature of 50℉, plus a northwesterly wind, provides a preview of coming events. The hummingbird feeders are down for the year. It's been four or five days since we've seen any hummingbirds. Next month, probably after Thanksgiving, we'll put up a suet feeder, after the bears are hibernating and night temperatures regularly drop below freezing. Along those lines, we'll cover the mums tonight since a frost is in the forecast. I brought the New England asters, the two that were on the front stoop, into the house before the local rabbits ate all of them. We'll see if we can prompt a recovery while they live on top of a book case that gets afternoon sun.

In a little more than two weeks, maybe sooner?, we'll watch for the tamaracks to turn from green to golden. By now there's few more than a handful of dragonflies still in flight. We've not seen any for several weeks now. One of these weeks we can expect to see dark-eyed juncos arrive.

October

By Robert Frost

O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

Tomorrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow.

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know.

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away.

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—

For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

********************************************
Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.