October

October is a time of transition,  full of the fruits of the summer,  but also with the harbingers of the coming season.   Whereas arrowwood viburnum brightened the roads and moors in the spring with its white blooms,  groundsel is now the light contrast to the greens and browns.  While the golden heather shone in June,  the goldenrods rule September and October.  While the greens were sprouting with their rims of red in the spring,  now reds herald the browning of the moors in October. 

New birds wing their way through on their migratory routes south, some stopping to gain sustenance mid-journey.  The monarch butterflies flutter about before departure.  On the bluff,  the autumn clematis is done blooming,  but leaves a spidery blanket over the shrubs.  The last bloom of the rugosa stands out amidst the fading flowers.

The change of the seasons has been experienced by human beings for millenia and may be our most fundamental experience with change.  This change is comforting in its familiarity and regularity.

In this season,  the dragonflies seem as big as hummingbirds,  and are more likely to be seen! 

At Norwood Farm,  the leaves crunch underfoot,  the ferns are curled up and browned, and the blackened grapes are past ripe. Almanac Pond is the smallest I've ever seen it after the dry summer,  but yields special visitors to the careful gaze.

In the catbird seat...at Windswept Bog

Eastern Phoebe poised for insects
 at Windswept Bog

Rosy-fingered dawn and
crescent moon, Oct 3

Yellow-bellied sapsucker at Marvin's Woods

October 2 sunrise

Summer's  drive

Lesser Yellowlegs at Almanac Pond

Rusty Blackbird at Almanac Pond

Almanac Pond from the Road

September

 

Norwood Farm Kettle Hole Pond

Josh and I went back to Cambridge on August 14,  one day before Charlie and Kelsey's due date.  Grandchild #4 arrived nearly 2 weeks late, on August 28.  Nathan Keith Posner was born 9 pounds, 7 oz.  

We returned to Nantucket on September 10.  I missed the White Pelican,  who visited the sandbar near the Sesachacha Pond cut,  but have seen the Marbled Godwit at Folger's Marsh.

Marbled Godwit ...It has a pink and black beak!

Norwood Farm rambling in the fall with its goldenrods and asters,  its deep red mahogany tupelos and purple grapes, is deeply satisfying.  There are still plants blooming that were blooming when we left a month ago:  Euthamia caroliniana ( aka slender goldentop) and chrysopsis falcata (sickle leaved aster)  in the middle of the sandy moor roads.  But the asters, the sweet everlasting (pseudognaphalium obutsifolium), and euthamia caroliniana predominate the landscape. The male and female groundsel are starting to bloom. Some carpets of Hypericum stragulum (St. Andrew's cross) are turning color as well,  and the clethra alnifolia (Sweet Pepper)  shows only its seeds after its showy and aromatic summer show.  

Sweet Everlasting

Fall Tupelos

Goldenrod Solidago Rugosa

Norwood Oak

Groundsel

Groundsel

Smooth Blue Aster
Symphyotrichum laeve 

Panicled aster
symphyotrichum lanceolatum




71 degrees,  Winds WSW 17,  partly cloudy
Ponds extremely low

Almanac Pond from the first tree

Seasons

Sunrise, August 9, 5:44 am

 

Winds swung around to the East this morning, and brought rain about 7:30 am as I kayaked back from Pocomo Meadow.  I watched the oyster men as well as sixty some common terns.  Whimbrel, oystercatchers, greater yellowlegs, black-bellied plovers, egrets and osprey.

After drying off, I set out on my mountain bike to ride the moors, which is easier when the rain keeps the sand more compacted.  The sickle-leaves asters are most predominant, perking up the middle and sides of Barnard Valley Road.  There are also Queen Anne’s Lace and a few leftover yarrow.  The low bush blueberry is turning red, and the early goldenrod is coming on.  It’s still the time of sweet pepper, although the blooms are looking spent in the sunny spots.

I visited Gibbs Pond and the Wigwam Ponds.  The smaller pond had morning beauties and cross-leaved milkwort. The larger had water lilies and pickerel weed.

I've been reading about phenology,  the science of measuring the natural cycles of plants and animals.  I have been doing that since I started my nature journal in 1980, more than 40 years ago.  Unfortunately,  it has not been as systematic and is required by science.  I learned that Thoreau kept journals of when 500 plant species first budded and bloomed in and around Concord.  There is now a National Phenology Network,  which is peopled by citizen scientists.  I am going to investigate.

Lowbush blueberry
Vaccinium Angustifolium

Wigwam Pond with waterlilies

Wigwam Pond
with Morning Beauties

Gratiola Aurea 
near Gibbs Pond

a Pearl Crescent,
Phyciodes tharos

Early goldenrod,
Euthamia caroliniana

Boneset in the trenches 
of the Milestone Bog

The Wheel of the Seasons

 

Pearl Crescent on Goldenrod Aug 7
South Road near Tom Nevers

  

Pearly Everlasting stands
dot the Madaket Moors

Seeing the goldenrod start to open makes it seem like summer is beginning to end.  The beach plums and grapes are still on the bush and vine,  but the early summer is gone.  The pearly everlasting stands lighten the Head of the Plains.

Today  I hiked Squam Farm to Squam Swamp and back to the Farm.  It was 74 degrees with winds from the west at 10 mph while I walked from 4:30 to about 6 pm.  The clethra is just past its peak,  but the walk was so fragrant.  The woods were so quiet.  There were only a handful of catbirds and towhees in evidence,  along with a yellowthroat chugging.  A pair of kingbirds were the highlight in the huge field near the former sheep barn.  I was surprised more birds weren't out taking advantage of all the insects,  including lots of dragonflies.  There were also a couple of blue jays, a chickadee and a group of red-winged blackbirds. 

The St. Johnswort is past,  but the marsh St. Johnswort  (hypericum virginicum) was thriving in the wet places.  And the St. Andrew's Cross (hypericum stragulum)  was on the sides of the paths in abundance.  A few late yarrow,  achillea,  and even a late ox-eye daisy could be seen.  There was a clump of the native mint in the field near the barn. The black cherries are ripening,  and the mockernut hickories are full of nuts.  My favorite find was the "antler and spindle fungi," from the family Clavariaceae in  Squam Swamp..  

Willow-herb at the Farm 

Black cherry 

Hypericum virginicum

Queen Anne's Lace

Antler and spindle fungi 

in Squam Swamp

Shorebirds

Walking on the beach, kayaking to Pocomo Meadow, visiting the UMass Field Station...the shorebirds are beautiful companions.  

Snowy Egret at Masquetuck, Aug 4

Whimbrel takes off at UMass Field Station

Island Creek, Pocomo

Black-bellied plovers

Yellowlegs at Pocomo

Whimbrel at Island Creek

Black-bellied plovers
across from Quaise Point, Aug 3

Common and Least Terns,  Eel Point, July 30

Least tern and common tern

Sanderlings, Eel Point, July 30

Semipalmated plover

Piping Plover, Madaket Harbor side
of Eel Point, July 30

Oystercatcher

Ruddy Turnstone