natureswondersbyclyde

     One sunny, cool afternoon this October, I drove around my home town of New Holland in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to look for beauties of autumn in that town's human-made suburbs.  A crisp breeze indicated that fall definitely prevailed and nature is still in charge.  And I felt the life, the wild of nature within a mile of home.         Striking colored leaves on planted deciduous trees, including red foliage on red maples, bright-orange leaves on sugar maples, maroon and yellow foliage on white ashes, and yellow on honey locusts, were the most obvious of autumn beauties on my excursion around town.  Those cheery, autumn leaves certainly illuminated and brightened New Holland, and were enjoyed by many people.      Evergreen spruce trees and white pines offer dark backgrounds to colored, deciduous leaves.  And those conifers literally emerge from behind falling curtains of deciduous foliage.      During October, white pine trees noticeably appear unhealthy because half thei

      The leaves of black gum, red maple and pin oak trees, along the shores of ponds and creeks in southeastern Pennsylvania, turn strikingly red in fall.  And the foliage of silver maples and shag-bark hickories in those same habitats are lovely yellows in autumn.  Some of those trees' limbs droop low over and into the water along some of those shorelines, providing shaded shelter that fall gatherings of wood ducks hide under until they speed south to avoid the northern winter.      After raising ducklings in summer, both genders of adult wood ducks have beautiful feathering through autumn, winter and spring.  Drakes have lovely colors and patterns that attract mates, while hen woodies have plain, but attractive dress that camouflages them.  The beauties of autumn foliage and wood duck plumages together are breathtaking.      Wood ducks are wary and quick to slip under cover, or take flight, while calling loudly in alarm to others of their kind.  They hide in the shadows of red a

     Several kinds of interesting insects are still active and visible in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania during October, including a few species of grasshoppers, woolly Caterpillars, praying mantises, wheel bugs and spotted lanternflies.  These are larger insects that can be spotted at times by most anyone in farmland and  suburban areas during that beautiful month.         I see many grasshoppers of a few kinds, mostly differential, red-legged and Carolina, leaping away from me when I walk along farmland roadsides in Lancaster County during August, September and October.  Those grasshoppers live among sheltering tall grasses and flowering "weeds", where they were not mowed, and consume those same plants.  And many grasshoppers, in turn, are ingested by American kestrels, screech owls, red foxes, toads and other kinds of predators.        Being related, all grasshoppers have characteristics in common.  Being insects, they have six legs, the rear ones being larger than the oth

     Field, spotted camel, mole and snowy tree crickets are my favorite crickets in southeastern Pennsylvania.  They help liven fields, meadows, roadsides and suburban areas, all human-made habitats, with their presence and lively, rythmic chirping.  But they are seldom seen because they are hidden away, and camouflaged.  All these crickets mostly eat insect eggs and vegetation.  And all are built much like their larger cousins, the grasshoppers.  These crickets are an inch to an inch and a half long.  And I think they are all attractive.       Field crickets are dark and mostly live under mats of dead vegetation on the ground under field and roadside plants.  The chirping of males is companionable and enjoyable as I walk along country roads.  And occasionally I see one jumping across a rural road.        Camel crickets are brown all over, with yellowish spots and streaks, and hump-backed, hence their name.  Their humped backs are unique among local crickets.      Camel crickets live i