Anticipating Autumn

For the past eighteen years while we lived in south Florida, we failed to experience the change of seasons as an event. The hot, humid and rainy half of the year melded gently into the dry season with sunny days and cool evenings. The migrating birds were more precise in their scheduled arrivals and departures.

Long-term weather predictions, whether by computer-driven AccuWeather or the competing Old Farmers Almanac, can provide disparate results. Here in New England there is rather precise prediction of the arrival and intensity of colorful fall foliage. Tour companies vie to provide travelers with schedules that exploit the beauty of autumn.   

According to the Fall Foliage Prediction Map, central Connecticut can expect the leaves to change to yellow and patchy orange and red around September 26 and reach peak color by mid-October. The intensity and variety of color will depend upon the types of trees and weather patterns which will affect the disappearance of chlorophyll and the emergence of the background pigments such as caretenoids, flavinoids and anthrocyanins. 

I am looking forward to my first colorful autumn since moving away from New Jersey and the northern States when I was drafted in 1966.  This past week we had an "appetizer" of sorts as an early migrant female Purple Finch was almost invisible in a birch tree which was also getting a head start on the season:

This Purple Finch added to my list of bird species identified (67, of which I have photographed 54 on site) from our back yard since we moved here in early January. She, or another female appeared the next day. Hopefully they will start visiting the seed feeders: 

This is a young female House Finch for comparison:

A Black-capped Chickadee peered out from its pine tree perch:

A female Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker hunted for ants next to the pool patio. Unlike many other woodpeckers, this species spends much of its time on the ground, probing for adult and larval ants as well as other ground insects:

This male Downy Woodpecker has been sleeping in the vacant bluebird house. This species, as well as several others, often use nest boxes for nighttime shelter against the winter cold. I hope this one does not decide to carve out a back door!

An adult male Eastern Goldfinch extracted seeds from the spent flowers of Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) in the garden:

Immature goldfinches, distinguished from adult females by their darker plumage and tan wing bars, also feasted on the seed heads:

A flock of Wild Turkeys, numbering more than a dozen, foraged in the Sow Thistle (Sonchus arvensis) at the far end of the clear-cut acreage in back of the house. They were barely visible-- these two were the "best" of over 20 photos I took at a distance of 55 meters (~180 feet):

The coats of White-tailed Deer are changing from reddish to dull gray for the winter:

I rescued this terrestrial Wood Frog from the swimming pool. He just hopped away without saying thanks. We are surrounded by consciousness, which I believe to be a fundamental property of matter, usually undetectable, like radiation. It concentrates as the complexity of organisms increases. While the frog may have been incapable of expressing gratitude for its return to freedom, it must have felt relief from the terror of near-drowning:

We encountered this Wooly Bear caterpillar (larva of Isabella tiger moth, Pyrrharctia isabella) on our morning walk along Diamond Lake. Folk wisdom is that if the area of its rust-colored band is less than half that of the black, the winter will be more severe. The caterpillar has 13 segments (said to represent the 13 weeks of winter) and in this specimen, the area appears to involve four segments. Actually, the colored area and the relative size of segments in the middle of its body increase as the caterpillar ages, so this may simply be a young one:

The smooth surface of the lake reflected the greenery:

Sunsets are so varied and spectacular. This view from the upper patio was just after the sun disappeared and the city lights of Hartford were twinkling:

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Linking to:

Garden Affair

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

All Seasons

Image-in-ing

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World
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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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