Around the House - Fall

To all of us who go by the meteorological seasons, fall begins on the first of September and ends November 30. Certainly there were days with summer-like temperatures, some summer-blooming wildflowers had blossoms in early fall but black bears were fattening up and some trees, especially red maples, began to change color – the distant hills often have a reddish cast by September 1.

As we entered fall, the daily photographs in this continuing series were taken within 200 feet of our back door – insects, flowers, birds, mammals, fungi, trees and other plants. The area within that 200 feet consists of woodland, lawn, flower garden, ornamental trees and shrubs and a tiny, tiny pond.

H and I have been extremely fortunate to have lived here on the side of the hill for over 50 years in a house that was built for us by a skilled and conscientious crew. The house was built in woodland that was once a pasture and had then reverted to forest, forest that consists primarily of black birch, red maple and tulip-poplar with a scattering of oaks, hickories, black locust and other species.

The woodland has been heavily impacted by white-tailed deer, many species of shrubs and herbaceous plants have been browsed into oblivion. In order to protect some of those shrubs and wildflowers from the deer, a deer-resistant fence encloses a small area where white trillium, mayapple and other plants still grow.

The videos and photo from the camera traps within 200 feet of our back door are noted at the end of this post.

 

Now it's winter, no more flowers to be photographed; our dying white birch was removed, its wood added to next year's woodpile; many of the birds of spring and summer are gone, perhaps to be replaced by winter finches; the hardwood leaves have fallen, their nutrients will be recycled with help from all the unseen living things on the forest floor; the deer, squirrels and chipmunks may have a lean winter since there weren't many acorns or hickory nuts here; we may, or may not, have much snow and cold as the climate changes – time moves on as do the seasons.

This post completes not only the fourth of the year’s seasons, but the fifth photo-a-day-for-a-year series that’s been posted on In Forest and Field. Just as a similar project by a renowned nature photographer inspired the first of my series, perhaps these photographs will inspire you to take a closer look at the world around your home and maybe do something similar with whatever subject interests you.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed viewing the photos as much as I’ve enjoyed taking them. Will I do another such series? We’ll see. 

 

From the camera traps: 9/20, 10/12, 11/12, 11/16 & 11/28