These wonderful, beautiful fall days inspire me to go outside. I want to walk and crunch leaves beneath my feet. It is hard to walk quietly on the dry leaves. Each step, each crunch, echoes throughout the forest.
As I stopped to taken in the beauty of the forest, an empty bench was my only companion.
An amphitheater made of big boulders. Perhaps, the site of a council of the animals, as they discuss the humans and how we lost our way. And how to help us find our way back home.
Contents
Nature Calendar
October 31 – November 1 – Halloween and All Soul’s Eve. The Harvest Season Ends
November 3 – Daylight Savings Time Ends
November 4 – First Quarter Moon
November 12 – Full Beaver Moon, Full Frost Moon
November 19 – Last Quarter Moon
November 26 – New Moon
What to Observe Right Now
Birds – Winter residents begin arriving, last of raptors migrate
Flowers – The last of the goldenrods and asters bloom, dried flower stalks, and seed heads
Insects – The last of the bees, wasps, gnats, flies, and milkweed bugs
Animals – chipmunks are still active here in Philly
- Black Bears are heading to their winter dens and entering torpor
- Lobsters move to offshore waters
- Best fishing 1st through 12th, 26th through 30th
In the Night Sky
- New Moon always rises near sunrise
- First Quarter rises near noon
- Full Moon always rises near sunset
- Last Quarter rises near midnight
- Moonrise occurs about 50 minutes later each day
- Watching the circumpolar stars
What to Photograph and Draw Right Now
- fall berries
- acorns
- frost on grass and leaves
- mist rising from ponds, lakes, and rivers
Taking Autumn Photographs
- taking photographs on overcast days heightens the colors
- take photographs while standing in the shade, use cloudy white balance setting
- use the foliage setting on your point-and-shoot camera
- use the landscape mode to take landscape scenes
Citizen Science
- Project FeederWatch begins at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology – starts November 9, 2019
- Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count, October to March on West Coast of U.S. – November 16 – December 18, 2019
What are your favorite Fall activities?