Hi everyone on this somewhat rainy fall, or autumn, day.  Hard to believe it’s September already.  Although walking out the door in the morning to feed the birds and chipmunks certainly helps me to believe it very quickly.  It is definitely on the chilly side in the morning now.  Well, okay, it’s chilly all day now. 

Autumn is a beautiful time of year with all the magnificent colors.  Those colors started a bit earlier than usual this year.  Usually just the birch start early.  This year so are the maples, ash and aspens.  Most trees are still mainly green, but the colors are starting.  And some trees are quite yellow or orange.

This morning I thought maybe we would go for our weekly coffee chat to a little spot behind our local Dairy Queen.  If you are not familiar with DQ, that is our local ice cream shop.  Probably the only Dairy Queen left where you still have to stand outside to make your order.  But there is a nice spot behind there where there is some picnic tables and on a sunny day it is a very pleasant spot.  We will have to use our imagination a bit today though, since it is not sunny today.

But even with the sun, you will want to dress warmly, so I hope you brought a jacket, since the temp would only be around 10C (50F) on a normal day.  Unfortunately now that September is here it has gotten very quiet.  Most of our smaller birds have already headed south.  Even robins have gone already.   Most of our warblers are gone too, some sparrows, most of our gulls and many other species of birds.  All gone until next spring.

Still a lot of flowers blooming though.  As you can see over to the right are the bright yellow tansy.  Many people don’t like them, but they are bright and great for attracting butterflies.  And if it’s good for butterflies then I like them.  And right over there by the trees is the panicled aster.  It’s one of two white asters found in this area and the most common of the two.  It wouldn’t be fall without the goldenrod, there is a lot blooming now, and several different species.

 Some people don’t like these either due to allergies, but goldenrod is not the problem, it’s ragweed that causes the allergies.  Goldenrod pollen is too heavy to travel in the air and cause problems.  Goldenrod however, is a very beneficial plant used by over 100 species of butterflies and moths here in North America. Plus bees and other insects also feed on this plant.  Like the tansy, it is a great plant to have around.

Look at this one over here.  This one is called Boneset.  They are found all through this area, but are not particularly common.  They are kind of an odd looking flower.  This is the first one I have seen in 4 or 5 years.  Nice.  Oh, look at that.  We were just talking about butterflies and there is a nice one now.  Such a nice bright fritilary.  Come over here and take a look at what I see under the trees here.  A nice little group of mushrooms.  Look how the stem flares up to the top.  Those are a cool variety.  I wish I knew more about mushroom identification.  We have so many different varieties in this area.  Well, not too much for today, but I hope you enjoyed our coffee time anyway.  Next week we will try something a little different.  I hope you all have a wonderful day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

© 2019 Steve McLeod.