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.

 

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?