It’s just August and yet there have been abundant signs all around us of the coming autumn.
The locust trees have been losing their leaflets. Hiking down on the Laurel Highlands Trail and up at Harrison Hills Park, Deborah and I have seen even gentle breezes send cascades of yellow and brown locust leaflets spinning down to the forest floor. I am sitting at my writing desk right now and am looking out at three, tall black locust trees in my neighbor’s yard. The narrow crowns of the trees are at least 20% filled with brown, senescing leaflets. Why would these trees, which leafed out so late in spring/summer months, be shedding their leaflets so early? Why would they be giving up on photosynthesis when there are two months of ideal temperatures and sunlight ahead?
It turns out that this “early autumn” observation is due to disease. The locust trees (which have been moved far and wide out of their natural, southern Appalachian range by humans) are not only under some accumulated ecological stress, but are also infested with tiny leaf miners that are consuming their leaflets from within and triggering this early “sign of fall.”
A few days ago a flock of 40 to 50 blackbirds filled up my front yard. They clamored all over and around the sunflower seed feeders, the bird baths, and even poked at the hummingbird feeder! I have never had such a flock in my yard before! These birds were a bit of a puzzle. They were not common grackles or red winged blackbirds. They were not cowbirds or European starlings. Almost by process of elimination I came to the conclusion that they were rusty blackbirds and were in the process of migration from their more northern summer ranges to their warmer, southern, winter habitats. My yard was just a rest and refueling stop on their trip.
Rusty blackbirds form huge migrating and winter flocks. They frequently gather together with grackles, red-wing blackbirds, cowbirds, and starlings to form groups numbering in the thousands. In past years Deborah and I have seen these mixed flocks passing through local woodlands especially when the wild grapes up in the tree canopies are ripe. This pure cohort of rusty blackbirds, though, was a first for me.
After about an hour the flock was dispersed from my yard by our sharp-shinned hawk (she was unsuccessful in her hunt!). They did not return and are, I am sure, on their steady way south gathering up more and more individuals and more and more species as they move along.
And finally, “summers end” is starting to bloom all around us. The British use that appellation to describe goldenrod. The rich diversity of our many species of goldenrod are starting to show their colors. In our garden, down at the bottom of our field and along our hiking trails. A beautiful plant with such a sad message! I am glad, though, that Robert and Jennifer’s bees will be using these late summer blooms to make some of my favorite, dark honey!
There are a few benefits of the coming Fall. The grass is growing more slowly and we don’t need to mow as often, and there is a wonderful touch of cool in the air in the early morning! And, thanks to photographs and the Internet we can relive at least a part of this past Spring and Summer well into the Fall and Winter! Deborah has put together a month by month web site of the flowering plants that we have seen this year at Harrison Hills Park at
sites.psu.edu/harrisonhills. The pictures are, as usual, fantastic!
They are here already this year! Blackbirds were squawking this morning, and the locust are so loud outside at work I thought someone was here working in the shop. I am so ready to see some orange and red!