PEAK OF COLORED LEAVES

      Most of nature is beautiful and inspiring, including colored leaves on deciduous trees.  Deciduous foliage turning colors peaks by the end of October in southeastern Pennsylvania.  And the reds, yellows and oranges of red maples, sugar maples, black gums, sweet gums, white ashes, and other kinds of trees in this area, are overwhelming, and inspiring, at that time in this area.  Whole canopies of deciduous woods are of those colors.  And those colored leaves are most brilliant and striking in bright, low-slanting sunlight.

     When deciduous trees sense lesser amounts of daylight each succeeding day, they withdraw water from their foliage.  As the leaves die, the green chlorophyll in them fades, and the other warm, lovely colors are then visible to us to admire.       

     Colored leaves are more prevalent in northeastern North America than anywhere else in the world.  And they are another overwhelming miracle and beauty of nature.  Thankfully, we have the God-given ability to see, enjoy and be inspired by them.  Nature's beauties are a sign of a Higher Power.  

     White-tailed deer, gray squirrels, wild turkeys, blue jays and other kinds of wildlife in southeastern Pennsylvania are active among the attractive colored leaves, and their blankets on the ground.  There those handsome creatures eat acorns, and the squirrels and jays each store many of those nuts in tree cavities and in the ground for winter use.

     Colored leaves are reflected in the still waters of ponds and lakes, where their beauties are doubled.  Gatherings of pretty mallard ducks and stately Canada geese sometimes rest in those reflections of warm-hued foliage, enhancing the beauties of the leaves and waterfowl.  

     Soon those beautiful, warm-colored leaves are knocked from their twig moorings by wind and rain, and float gently to the ground, like a multi-colored snowfall.  There they form carpets of bright colors.  And those fallen leaves shelter mice, shrews and a variety of invertebrates in the soil, as that fallen foliage also decays into, and becomes part of, the soil, enriching it.

     As the colored foliage drops, coniferous trees emerge as if from behind a multi-colored, fallen veil.  The conifers become ever more visible, and their green needles balance the hues of deciduous leaves, and the gray bark of deciduous trunks and boughs.      

     I am totally inspired by the colors of deciduous foliage at the peak of its dying and turning colors.  Most of nature is enjoyable and inspiring, if we take the time to look for its beauties and intrigues through each year.  We are fortunate to be able to benefit from the esthetics of the natural world.       

       

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PERILS OF BARNACLE GEESE GOSLINGS

      Barnacle geese are interesting for where they hatch goslings- high on rocky cliffs in northeast Greenland, Spitzbergen Island and northwest Siberia.  They do that to keep their eggs and newly-hatched goslings away from Arctic foxes, Arctic wolves and polar bears.  But the geese and their goslings have no food on those cliffs.  Therefore, the goslings must leap off those cliffs and drop to the grassy tundra below.      On the tundra, at the bases of the cliffs, each pair of barnacle geese call to their three or four goslings to take the plunge, which they do.  One after another, the goslings leap off their nurseries and bounce and tumble off boulders down the faces of the cliffs to their rocky bottoms.  There the surviving goslings join their parents to march to nearby patches of grass close to water to feed on that grass.        Most of those fuzzy-gray, camouflaged youngsters survive their fall, but s...
Read more

LAWNS IN EARLY MAY

      Lawns in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania are full of adaptable life early in May, making them interesting to experience.  One needs only to step out of their house onto their lawn to see adaptable plant and animal life in abundance.      At this time, red maple trees and elm trees are loaded with multitudes of small, winged seeds that drop from the trees and twirl away on the wind from those parent trees.  One-inch-long, red maple seeds each have a tree embryo at one, swollen end and a veined, thin wing on the other end that carries the embryo away on the wind.        Each flat, round and light-beige elm seed has a bump in its papery middle that houses the embryo tree.  These seeds resemble half-inch wafers.      Shimmering beautifully in sunlight, thousands of these petite, attractive seeds of both kinds act much like snow falls.  They swirl down in big numbers onto lawns in a few days, drift...
Read more

NIGHT CRITTERS AT ONALASKA

      Lake Onalaska is a large backwater off the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.  Onalaska is composed of deep and shallow waters, mud flats, islands covered by tall grass and other islands dominated by deciduous, floodplain trees.      In spring, that lake is a staging area for migrating ducks, swans, ring-billed gulls, white pelicans, a variety of shorebirds and other kinds of northbound birds.  Many bald eagles congregate there as well.  All those birds create exciting times for human observers.  I see all these intriguing birds, beautiful scenery, breath-taking sunrises and sunsets, and other interesting species of life through a live camera, 24/7, and our computer screen.  I enjoy seeing those beauties around Onalaska through each year.  But, through our computer, I also like to watch for nocturnal creatures that live along the lake.         The live camera and a spotlight are aimed at a large, dea...
Read more