Remember how on November 7th I wrote that non-native trees are often the only ones with leaves at this time of year?
Here’s a Norway maple, seen yesterday in Schenley Park. It was the only tree with leaves on this Blue Sky day.
(photo by Kate St. John)
Very soon all the trees will be bare in my neighborhood. This is already the case north of Pittsburgh.
A week ago I visited the Clarion River in Jefferson County where I noticed that even the oaks were bare. At the Allegheny Front last Sunday the leaves on the mountain had fallen but in the valley the oaks were russet, the tulip trees golden. In the valley the leaves were putting on a final show. By now it’s probably over.
However, the show isn’t over yet if you have non-native trees in your area. Trees from northern locations are out of sync with our photo period so most of them still have leaves, some are green.
Our native maples lost their leaves two weeks ago. The maples you see now with yellow and green leaves are Norway maples which respond to the amount of light they receive in Norway in October – about 10 hours per day. Pittsburgh’s days aren’t that short until early November so these foreign maples are delayed. They’re on Norway time.
Eventually even the non-natives will catch up. How will I know when all the leaves are gone? When I don’t have to rake anymore.
(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)
This morning the fog rose from the river and blanketed my neighborhood in frost.
Above the fog the sky is clear, the sun shining. Both fog and frost will be gone soon.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
Golden sunlight on yellow leaves at North Park. Enjoy them now. They’re falling fast.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
Fall is really here.
Right now our maples are showing off their oranges, reds and yellows while our ash trees wear pastel yellow and pale violet.
Soon the maples and ashes will lose their leaves but we’ll get a second burst of color from the oaks — ochre, rust and burgundy.
Enjoy it now. The trees will be bare in November.
(photo by Dianne Machesney of Latodami Nature Center at North Park)
11 October 2009
Winter is coming. Orion the Hunter is back.
Hidden all summer, the Orion constellation is visible again in our southern sky. I first noticed him last week, just before dawn.
You can pick out his features in the photo at left. The line of three stars in the middle is his belt, the vertical line below that is his dagger and the four stars at the four corners mark his shoulders and knees. The unusual red star at his top left shoulder is Betelgeuse. Click here to see how the Ancient Greeks made this pattern into a hunter.
Orion lies on the celestial equator so he’s visible in each hemisphere in winter. He’s one of my favorite constellations but truth be told he’s one of the few I can see. My neighborhood is bad for star gazing due to city lights and Pittsburgh’s frequent cloud cover. If the Ancient Greeks had seen as few stars as I do, they wouldn’t have named so many constellations.
Right now Orion is in the south but by January he’ll be at his best. Meanwhile he has a special claim to fame this month. On October 21 the Orionid meteor shower will flash in the space between Orion and Gemini, above and left of Betelgeuse.
So keep looking up. Even at night there’s always something to see.
(Orion animation by Michelet B via Wikimedia Commons; click on image to see the original)
30 September 2009
Today Chuck Tague reminded me it’s time for an October phenology report. Yikes! I wrote September’s “What to Look For” only three days ago and included some early October predictions. Is there any more to say?
I read Chuck’s list and right off the bat his is better than mine. Did you know that October is a good month to find Woolly Bear caterpillars? Did you know the Woolly Bear is the larva of the Isabella Tiger Moth? I didn’t.
So rather than bore you with my own paltry list I urge you to read Chuck’s at Asters, Woolly Bears and Sweaters: A phenological perspective for October.
p.s. News! Three (or more) of Chuck Tague’s bird photos will be part of the OnQ show I blogged about yesterday. Watch for his scarlet tanager, indigo bunting and mourning dove in the Birding for Everyone segment on Monday, 5 October 2009 at 7:30pm on WQED.
(Wooly Bear composite photo by Chuck Tague)
September 27, 2009:
Here’s a backward glance at what we missed in early September and a look ahead to October. At this time of year we can expect to see:
For more details, read Chuck Tague’s early and late September phenologies for western Pennsylvania and the almanacs on his blog.
(photo of asters in my backyard … blurry, but you get the idea.)
Here’s a flower that I look for in September at Moraine State Park. Closed or Bottle Gentian (Gentiana andrewsii) likes to grow in damp soil so I risk getting my feet wet when I look for it. It’s always a pleasant surprise to find it.
The petals of Bottle Gentians never open but a bumblebee can force its way into the flower at the top. In fact, bumblebees are just about the only insect who wants to – and can – collect the nectar.
It seems to me this is a lot of trouble to go to for each flower. It must be worth it.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)
Here’s a flower that blooms in Pennsylvania – and in Acadia National Park in September.
Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritaceae) probably got its “everlasting” name because it dries well for use in winter flower arrangements. It’s a member of the Aster family.
(photo by Dianne Machesney)