Nature – Page 3 – New Hampshire Green Leaves Blog

Autumn Observations For 2022

On the eve of Halloween, we are half way between the beginning of fall and the beginning of winter. The weather so far has been reasonably benign with enough rain to bring an end to the drought conditions which afflicted my area this past summer. Minor frosts have gnawed away the tender vegetation, though as yet no deep freezes to harden the ground.

The brilliant fall foliage which made an excellent display this year has dropped away, literally, giving me an opportunity for aerobic exercise in the yard. I do not use those noisy abominations called leaf blowers. A conventional rake is my tool of choice along with an old beat-up plastic garbage barrel for collecting the leaves. The leaf litter gets deposited in a variety of spots around the house including as mulch for my gardens. All will rot down eventually, returning the nutrients they contain back into the soil for future trees and plants to take up in their turn.

The hawthorn trees in my front yard have dropped a percentage of their leaves, revealing bright orange-red berries. The berries reputedly have medicinal properties, being a source of antioxidants, anti-inflammatory substances, and may lower blood pressure and cholesterol. I haven’t tried them out, but the lovely glossy color does make it tempting.

They are popular with squirrels, turkeys and robins though my hope is that they will attract other berry-loving birds such as mockingbirds, cedar waxwings or the ultimate Holy Grail; ruffed grouse or bluebirds.

Turkeys have been trekking through the neighborhood recently. The flock I saw a few days ago numbered about fourteen. I couldn’t get close enough to determine if they were males or females, as in the fall turkeys will congregate in gender segregated groups, toms with other males and hens with their female offspring in their own group. The turkeys I photographed on my front lawn several weeks ago appeared to be females.

The usual fall invasion of mice into the house brought out my mouse traps. I show no mercy to these little rodents as they gnaw incessantly, can damage wiring and spread disease to boot. With a good crop of acorns this year, their population has boomed along with that of gray squirrels and chipmunks. Good pickings for the red fox I have seen occasionally short-cutting through the woods in back of the house. I can usually tell when he’s about by the shrieking crows which follow him as he goes.

Another predator of mice and rodents showed up recently in my garage. As I was returning from a walk and stepped into the garage, something scooted rapidly by near my feet. I caught a glimpse of a reddish back and assumed at first it was a red squirrel. But the movements weren’t right so I retreated back outside to see what would pop up.

Turned out it was a short-tailed weasel, a long lean creature, still in his summer colors. Attempts to capture a picture of this ferocious little beast for my blog were futile as he moved so fast, all I got was pictures of a blurry brown smear. So I had to cheat and download a little picture from the Internet.

I had wondered where the chipmunks disappeared to and I guess this answers my question. Weasels are relentless hunters, generally devouring anything smaller than themselves and, if they can, anything larger they feel they can tackle. They are the bane of chicken farmers everywhere as once inside a coop, they will kill any bird they can grab, often eating only a few internal organs or perhaps the brains, leaving the rest for the unhappy farmer to curse over. But if he will clean out the mice, I won’t begrudge him a few chickens (I don’t own chickens anyway).

That’s all for now. Until next month. Happy Halloween!

Halloween pumpkin with dancing cat and owl

Summer’s End

Labor day is almost upon us. Although summer still officially lasts for about three more weeks, Labor Day makes it seem like it’s the end of the season and the start of fall.

It’s been an abnormally dry season though some relief in the form of rain has begun arriving in the past few weeks to help the sweet corn along for the farmer’s market. There was a population boom of bumblebees in contrast to the scarcity of the insect last summer. Fire flies made a tentative reappearance though June bugs still seem to be in short supply.

It was a good summer for babies. A pair of Canada geese has been raising a brood in the tiny nature preserve near where I live. My sister-in-law took this adorable photo of a baby merganser goose-stepping across the road following his mother.

I’ve seen fledgling robins and heard young chickadees, nuthatches and chipping sparrows pursuing their parents begging for a last few morsels of food before they will have to fend for themselves.

Although the weather was on the dry side, a number of plants did well for themselves. The Black eyed Susans in my garden have bloomed prolifically.

The recent rains brought out a small mushroom nestled among the roots of a white pine.

My Jack-In-The-Pulpit bloomed its characteristic ‘jack’ and is now forming a berry cluster which will turn bright red.

While on a morning walk in late July, I encountered a Monarch butterfly feeding in a patch of milkweed on the corner of a parking lot.

It was a thrill to see this badly endangered butterfly still hanging in there. Now the milkweed has produced pods and if they can escape getting weed-wacked, I hope to collect a few when they ripen and try getting them to grow on the bank in back of my home.

Hope you had a happy summer.

Snowdrops

One of the first flowers to appear around my home are snowdrops beating out the crocuses by nearly a month. These rugged little plants begin poking up near the foundation of my home as soon as the snow melts back.

And sometimes even before.

The three-petaled blossoms with an inner bell are small but white with a little green chevron on the bell.

These durable flowers grow from bulbs which can be purchased online. I’ve seen them survive a surprising amount of abuse from cold weather. If they get snowed on, they just wait patiently until the snow melts off and they rise back up as if nothing had happened.

If you plant a group of bulbs, they will begin spreading. If you get too many, they can be transplanted by just digging them up once the blossom has gone by and before the leaves die back. They don’t seem to object to this. A number of years ago one of my siblings was raking vigorously where I had just planted some new bulbs. He inadvertently raked up the bulbs (they are very small) not noticing them and dumped the bulbs leaves and all into the woods. The bulbs were not fazed even slightly by this but took root and are now blooming just underneath the pine trees.

Snowdrops are always a welcome sight in late March or early April, giving that little promise to us that while spring seems slow in coming, it is here.

October Observations

The first full month of Fall has come and is nearly gone with Halloween just around the corner. Blink and you’ll miss it. Why time insists on whizzing by so fast these days is uncertain but may involve the fact that the older you get, the more time seems to speed up. Science data suggests that as we age, our ability to process images and experiences decreases even though time is actually moving at the same pace it always does. That may very well be, but one reason I almost never watch television anymore is the increasingly frantic pace of cutting from one scene to the next as well as the endless barrage of truncated ‘sound bites’ which convey little information that’s of any use. I’m not the only one who’s noticed this and like others I find it obnoxious.

Maybe that’s because I’m getting to be an old fuddy-duddy now or maybe my tolerance for baloney has permanently tanked. In any case, I’ve changed to walking more, paying more attention to reality and taking my entertainment in bite size chunks of my own choosing, rather than having it spoon fed to me by faceless corporations out to make a profit at my expense.

On the morning of October 10, about 11:30 AM, many people in southern New Hampshire, as well as parts of Maine and Massachusetts reported hearing a loud boom. Curiously neither of my brothers who both live in the southern part of the state heard anything out of the ordinary or if they did, attributed it to nearby noisemakers and thought nothing more of it. Scientists say there was no earthquake and the FAA says there was no military plane activity in the area. Most likely explanation is a bolide coming in from space exploding in the upper atmosphere. So unless the Air Force fesses up and admits one of their boys was hotdogging, the meteor explanation will have to suffice.

The Covid panic proceeds apace with no signs of letting up. There’s been a minor surge in the past few weeks here in New Hampshire, no doubt largely due to the influx of germ laden tourists during fall foliage season. It will no doubt subside in the coming weeks and resurface with the holiday seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Let’s face it, folks. Covid is here to stay and become another one of the ailments we have to chronically deal with, like influenza or norovirus.

The tree foliage here in Northern New Hampshire has peaked and leaves are now being shed with increasing speed, piling up at the side of the road, on top of lawns or spinning around madly in the backwash left by speeding cars. Colors were good but are quickly fading away from bright yellows and reds to less flamboyant yellow ochers and bronze shades. I’m trying to stay on top of the raking by going out in good weather (with hopefully no wind) and using an actual rake that I hold in my hands and scratch the ground with. Yes, people still use those things! Much quieter than a leaf blower plus you get a good aerobics workout.

Birds have begun migrating through, with the bulk of them being robins, sparrows and juncos. I’ve heard both flickers and pileated woodpeckers in the woods with their loud characteristic calls. Crows and blue jays are flying back and forth, probably checking out their digs for the winter and calling out anybody who tried to invade their territory. Squirrels and chipmunks are packing away the bonanza of acorns to help them tide over winter and mice are trying weasel their way into the woodwork of the house looking for a warm place to shack up in for the winter.

Chipmunks are especially amusing to watch as they cram seeds and acorns into pockets they have in their cheeks until they look like they have a dreadful case of the mumps. Very industrious, they don’t hibernate but do stock food away for the winter so they have something to feed on while the weather is foul and they have to lay low. These energetic little ground squirrels are surprisingly territorial, calling out their ownership with loud piercing bird-like chirps and pounding on any chippie who crosses the line, trying to invade. People get fooled by their cute appearance, thinking they’re sweet little animals. Don’t you believe it! These guys are little scrappers and are not above trying to bite off their opponent’s tail to assert dominance. It’s a rough and tumble world if you’re a chipmunk.

On a somber note, I recently witnessed the funeral procession of a local fireman who passed away suddenly. A twenty four year veteran, he had just retired, but sadly never got a chance to enjoy it. I watched the procession begin just after the services at the local Catholic church. Dozens of firemen from around the north country attended, in full dress uniforms with white gloves, standing at attention and saluting the flag draped coffin as it emerged from the church. The coffin was then loaded into the back of a fire engine for one last ride down Main Street past the local fire station where a huge American flag had been hung over the road.

American flag salute for fireman's funeral

Though I didn’t know the fireman personally, it was still a moving ceremony to watch, a recognition of his years of service and the respect he was held in.

Lastly is the weather. While we are experiencing fall like conditions now, it wasn’t until this past week that the first light frost hit some of the plants in my garden. This is extremely unusual as the first light frosts usually occur in mid to late September and a hard freeze usually by mid-October. While I’m not sure if this is a record for this area, the local weather reporter for WMUR did state this is the latest frosts have made their appearance in many years. While some may dispute global warming, I have seen too much evidence of it in recent years to doubt its existence.

Well, that’s all for this month. Have a peaceful Autumn, everybody.

Forest Notes for September

With the first day of fall officially come and gone, it is now time for autumn leaves, falling acorns, migrating geese and surprisingly enough caterpillars. More than a few species are searching around for places to hole up and pupate over the winter until the arrival of spring when they can emerge as butterflies or moths beginning the cycle of reproduction all over again.

Polyphemous moth caterpillar next to ruler

A few years ago, I was sweeping off the driveway when I spotted what at first appeared to be a walking green cigar. This proved to be a Polyphemus caterpillar nearly three inches long. He was moving along at a pretty good clip but fortunately I was able to grab a ruler and snap a decent picture of him. The Polyphemus moth (which he will eventually metamorphose into) is a large nocturnal moth with large eye spots on both wings. Named after the legendary cyclops, these moths are rarely seen but I was fortunate enough to discover one of their offspring.

These caterpillars are harmless, except to tree leaves, relying on their green coloration to hide them from predators looking for fat juicy bugs to nom. Others, like the monarch caterpillar, rely on a foul taste to deter predators, sporting bright colors to warn off anyone looking for a meal. Yucky but harmless.

But there are other caterpillars which are not quite so harmless. Many, like the gypsy moth caterpillar, are covered with irritating hairs which can produce rashes on susceptible people. Tussock caterpillars, like the one pictured below, also have irritating hairs which can cause problems for the sensitive, though they are not really that poisonous.

Tussock moth caterpillar sitting on strawberry leaf

While these insects may be interesting to look at, it is best to just look and not touch.

But the one you absolutely, positively should not touch under any circumstances is the flannel moth caterpillar. Like the one below they look strangely like a toupee someone has lost. But don’t be fooled.

These silly looking creatures sport highly poisonous stinging hairs which contain venom producing an unpleasant result if you are unfortunate enough to get stuck by one. Many people report it feels worse than a bee or wasp sting causing intense pain for the unlucky victim. Some are sensitive enough so they have wound up in the emergency room. I have not come across any references to fatal allergic reactions but the potential is always there. Look but don’t touch!

For those who are wondering what the coming winter may bring, some may take a look at the wooly bear caterpillar.

While this fellow sports stiff body hairs, the wooly bear is not toxic in any way. If you disturb them, they will curl up into an innocuous looking ball and lie still until it thinks the coast is clear. For some reason people have seized upon these little critters as a way to forecast the weather. If the brown band is wide, it foretells a mild winter. If it is narrow, then a rough winter is on the way. At the risk of bursting people’s bubbles, studies have not borne this out. In fact, I have seen wooly bears in the same year with differing widths in their brown bands. So unless you want to make out that one of them is a fibber, the caterpillars are a better sign that winter is just simply on the way than as to what kind of winter it will be.

So what is a good sign a cold winter may be on the way? Why, union suits pulled from storage and stuck out on the line to air out in preparations for blustery conditions of course! What else? Just a different kind of wooly.

long underwear or union suits on clothes line

Happy fall!

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