July: Heat, humidity, gnats, mosquitoes, dry, crunchy lawns, Barry sweating too much, and few birds singing.
August: Ditto, except now the forest foliage is even losing the bright green hues that were there in May and June.
September: It’s getting closer to my time; still too many hot days, I’m still too hot, BUT at least there is bird activity. The raptors are migrating, warblers and thrushes are popping up every morning, and even the Carolina wren started singing again. Finally, October ...
I have two favorite months, May and October.
May brings a plethora of new birds in the treetops and underbrush, reptiles are active again, everything is lush, mornings are cool, and I can work in my garden a while before sweating again. Is May my number one? Well, when trekking around Penn’s Woods, then, yes, it is.
But, now that it’s almost October, maybe I’ll have a new number one month. (Keep in mind this writer would prefer January over July or August, so maybe you think I’m losing it.)
October: Cool crisp nights, few bugs, fall flowers brightening the fields and roadsides, less humidity, the scent of those fall leaves and pine needles, winter birds arriving, and still some warblers and phoebes to make it interesting. About the wildlife; well, the white-tailed deer are now at their fittest, putting on some fat for the winter, the bucks are strutting around looking cocky, the bears are gorging themselves, and then the icing on the cake, the beautiful variety of the fall leaf colors.
I checked back in my notes, and most of the time the peak leaf colors fall between Oct. 10 and 20. Soon after that we usually have a hard frost that sends many of those leaves drifting down. But I can sit on an early frosty October morning and find that relaxing, watching, listening and even smelling fall all around me.
I’d like to share some photos of autumn’s splendor and the wildlife at that time, too. I hope you enjoy the column, but more importantly, get out there, sit somewhere and enjoy this special time of the year.
Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: Which of these flowers in autumn, even while losing its leaves? A. Eastern larch; B. witch hazel; C. spicebush; D. tupelo; E. all of these.
Last Week’s Trivia Answer: False — Only tree swallows may remain along the East Coast while barn swallows migrate to areas in and around Argentina.
Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com
Red maples add some brilliance early to the October woods. Note that even though it is still September, many are already losing their chlorophyll and gradually “showing off.” BARRY REED/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS
Not to be outdone, sassafras certainly adds brilliance to the early October landscape.
A few years after a selective timber harvest in Penn Forest Township, the undergrowth explodes. In autumn, enjoy the scarlet oaks, red maples, red oaks and the still-green highbush blueberry plants.
More common on the Pocono Plateau and farther north, the bright orange foliage of the sugar maples is always great to see.
It isn’t only the colors of autumn that I enjoy. Sometimes, it’s the smell, too. Just after the white pines drop their 2- and 3-year-old needles, grab a blanket and lie down. Listen, watch and even smell autumn — and soak it all in. BARRY REED/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS
Fall flowers don’t take a back seat to spring and summer flowers. One of the two fall asters is the white petaled wood aster. Some of the trails I walk are lined with these often overlooked autumn’s lures.
Look in damp field or forest edges where the larger and more showy New England asters brighten those areas.
The diminishing daylight triggers deciduous tree leaves to lose their supply of water, causing the pigment chlorophyll to die. The other pigments in the leaves are now, for a short time, able to be seen, leaving us with beautiful forest scenes like this watershed area along the Penn Forest Reservoir.
Hardly noticed most of the year, staghorn sumac brightens roadsides, waste areas and successional fields.
While our beautiful warblers have left our forests, most of the bluebirds, like this male, remain. And they seem to have even brighter plumage, adding just a touch more color to a crab apple tree.
The bluebird’s cousin, the hermit thrush, raises and lowers its distinctive chestnut-colored tail, giving the forest understory its own little bit of color. Some hardy ones even remain here through the winter, feeding on staghorn sumac or green briar berries.
The “whitetail” bucks are at their prime in early October before they begin a monthlong pursuit of mates during the rutting time. I enjoy sitting in the woods now watching deer, while leaves change color and drift down, while taking in the fall crisp scents.
Autumn has colors, characteristic smells, still-colorful birds and sounds like the chattering of a red squirrel. If you have them near you, sit and watch their constant activity and never-ending energy, and listen as they chatter to boast of what mast they have collected for their winter cache.