A rare autumn this, nearly entirely from green to brown. This week the golds of birch and tamarack though sparse, are welcome punctuation to otherwise dull vegetation.
Category Archives: Around The Hill
Birch
This birch, too close to neighbor hemlock, grows leaning, finds sun where it can. This wet pale October shows little more color than this birch scar.
Maple splashes yellow here and faraway there. Squalls alternate sun, blue and wet across the sky. Playful youngsters now, they’ll mature as real cold sets, getting running starts from west of Erie.
Almost snow today, cold to soon come. Any last colors will present, dry and fall as seasons deepen.
October Morning Geese
While enjoying the temperature and clarity of a fine October morning, the distinctive honking of geese punctuated an otherwise calm mist rising from the valley.
After what seemed like minutes, the gaggle revealed itself. Flying at a considerable altitude, these birds were not commuting across the neighborhood; they were on their way with intent.
From the back of the yard, a doe snorts, flashes buff from the tall grass, comes to attention, ears poised, eyes intent, gauging me as friend or threat.
The shadow crossing the sun and yard pulls my eyes up as a tree top turkey vulture pulses wings toward unobstructed sky.
Colors seep slowly stronger, gilding leaves and hills, on this fine October morning.
Dragon Tongue Goldenrod
A second generation dragon’s tooth volunteer clings to the last of a goldenrod.
September Sky
One of the last sunsets of Summer.
Clouds and Goldenrod
Faded green valleys vent a recent rain.
Golden rod color illuminates the landscape.
Barely a splash of maple or oak to be seen.
Big Buck
This fellow was out at dusk the other night, accepting the admiring gaze of a neighborhood doe.
American Dagger Moth Caterpillar
This fellow made his way across the bluestone recently. I gave him a pretty wide berth – close enough to get a photograph, far enough that his spikey hairs didn’t touch me as they are somewhat poisonous and will cause irritation.
Wikipedia reports:
Acronicta americana, the American dagger moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It was originally described by Thaddeus William Harris in 1841 and is native to North America.
Then, I noticed that nature had copied the pattern of his yellow starlike fur in green on the forest floor.
Tinker Creek
Earlier this week, this was the view of Tinker Creek immediately before it joins the East Branch of the Tunkhannock Creek.
Usually, this view shows beautiful stone ledges with small, but graceful waterfalls. The other day, however, this ‘babbling brook’ transformed into a ‘raging river’.
Tinker Creek begins in an unnamed lake near Lackawanna Mountain in Clifford Township. It flows south-southwest for a few tenths of a mile before turning west and entering a wetland. Here, the creek turns north for several tenths of a mile before receiving an unnamed tributary from the right and turning west-northwest. After a few tenths of a mile, it receives an unnamed tributary from the left and turns north-northwest for several tenths of a mile before heading in a westerly direction for more than a mile. The creek then turns northwest, and after a short distance, reaches its confluence with East Branch Tunkhannock Creek.
Fawn
It seems that there’s quite a population of fawn late this summer. A slow auto ride along neighborhood roads just around dusk reveals several doe and fawn within a mile or so.
For everyone’s benefit, all auto rides this time of year that time of day should be slow.
Earlier this week more than a dozen dragonflies swarmed the backyard. How many can you spot in the photo below?
