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| Pearl Crescent |
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| Leonard’s Skipper |
As the equinox approached, I headed out for a hike through Windswept Bog and around Stump Pond on September 9. The drought predominates: there is dry mud in Windswept Bog where there was ample water earlier in the year. The source of Stump Pond's place name now is now evident with the water level so low, as the stumps are sticking up through the water all around the route. I follow a kingfisher and his rattle as I walk. The burgundy tupelos accent the green Clethra Alnifolia, ferns, moss and St Andrews Cross. Pops of red huckleberries and yellowing grapes adorn the path.
I remember getting lost here while trying to walk around Stump Pond..now it is less wild with more well-marked paths. But there is always something different- a surprise. Today it is a grove of false foxgloves in the new streambed at Windswept. And the boneset fuzz flying over Windswept. I am reading The Land Breakers by John Ehle, and he describes the Appalachian settlers as using boneset for a tea to cure colds.
On September 12 downy goldenrod and bushy aster are blooming all over the Milestone Bog.
A kestrel poses at the old sand transfer pool; I flush Bobolinks. It is a time of migration: those who leave, like the red winged blackbirds and eastern kingbirds , once so numerous here, and those who stay, like the bluejays and crows. Two weeks later, the landscape is brown..the boneset now dark and the sedges deep brown. Some reblooming sickle-leaved asters line the paths. There are separate fields of sweet everlasting and goldenrod and groundsel. Shorebirds are taking advantage of the fresh water at Gibbs Pond: a solitary sandpiper, greater yellowlegs and 2 late ospreys bathing.
Knowing that the first pond is dry, I take the Pout Ponds Hike from Altar Rock on September 15. It's now Aster time : some Bushy asters on the way out; a wavy-leaved aster and a first liatris on the way back. Euthamia, the flat-topped downy goldenrod predominates. Meadowhawks buzz near the dry pond. Tapawshaw bog is completely dry.. I need to follow the streamed in the spring. We didn't pick blueberries, beach plums or grapes this year. Thankfully still have a trove of jelly from last year's harvest.
At Masquetuck on September 26, I spy Salt Marsh perennial asters and flaming red salicornia. Oystercatchers, egrets and yellowlegs are perched across the harbor.
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| Salecornia |
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| Masquetuck |
We finally got a slight rain. At Squam Farm and Swamp on September 28, Am I hearing Peepers? There has only been .54 inches of rain this month. Downed tupelo leaves cover the paths while green Clethra still stands along the sides. The yellowed grape leaves climb over them, along with Virginia creeper and red sumac. Wavy leafed asters (symphotrichum undulata) are everywhere; the mockernut hickories are full of nuts. The Solidagos are done, euthamia is blooming. It's more like a winter walk for birds with woodpeckers: downy, red-bellied and flickers.
I love the order of the seasons. Within the chaos and tumultuous world, there is an inner rhythm of the seasons. The sunrise and sunset are now directly east and west of our house. Sunrise will now move south from autumnal equinox til the winter solstice and north to vernal equinox and summer solstice. The flowers and birds march with the sun.
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| Pectoral Sandpiper |
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| Bobolink |
