Yellow butterfly rests on a fallen oak leaf.
Last o the brilliant blackgum leaves
Afternoon sun casting long shadows.
Pinpoints of light show where insects have chewed holes in the leaves.
All y’all, it’s fall!
Fall has definitely made its presence known here in the Arkansas Ouachitas!
DOGWOOD — Dogwood leaf’s red glows more intensely as the morning light hits it.
CONTRAST — Color contrasts against the autumn sky.
GOLD — Hickories light up the forest with their yellow leaves.
COLOR – Fall color spreads through the valley.
FALL VISTA — Fall is ramping up to its peak here in the Arkansas Ouachitas.
Happy Place
This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge asks: ” Where’s your happy place?” For us, it’s that place where the rising sun’s rays skim across the mountain folds, and updrafts sustain the wind play of vultures and hawks. It’s that place where birds fill the ears with chirps and whistles and hoots, and buck snorts add exclamation points to the Ouachita Mountain soundtrack. It’s also the place that has served as a bird blind, galactic observatory and deer-watching platform. That happy place is our deck.
Ouachita sunrise
Birdstorm
The ghost of Alfred Hitchcock must’ve been passing through the morning of Dec. 6. The noise of this many birds swirling from tree to tree is hard to describe, and while it wasn’t deafening, it was somewhat unnerving. The birdstorm came and went in just a few minutes.
Fox on the run
The wooded area behind our office building has a surprising amount of wildlife. Raccoons, tortoises and red-tailed hawks are common. A few years ago a rather thin coyote came trotting through and some months ago, state game officials identified a bit of roadkill on US 67 Business as a bobcat.
A few weeks back, what at first appeared to be a bushy-tailed feral cat emerging from the trees turned out to be a fox. By the time I grabbed the camera, sprinted down the hall and out into the parking lot he was beyond the range of my lens. The fox was probably keen on the sweet fruit that has been falling from the persimmon tree all autumn.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Convergence II
When functions Converge: When your rain gauge also becomes your thermometer.
(Typical Arkansas fall weather – 15 degrees F two weeks ago, mid-70s today.)
BRRRRRRRrrrrrr!
More convergences we liked:
Autumn subtleties
The Ouachitas’ big autumn show is winding down and the forest is wearing a decidedly more subtle palette these days.
Red dogwood berries beckon birds.
LOOKING UP — The last of the canopy colors at the top of the oaks.
Persimmons are all that’s left on bare branches.
French mulberries stand out against fading hickory leaves.
UNDERSTORY — As fall wore on, the understory color stood out.
Fall gallery
Gadzooks! We’ve been off WordPress for a month? Here’s a gallery for a little catching up on some of October’s sights.
MAGENTA SKY — Oct. 23, 2014, sunrise was just stunning. No filters, just letting nature speak for herself.
RED. REALLY RED — Sumac backlit on a sunny afternoon. Oct. 25, 2014.
ASTERS — These purple asters were the last to bloom this fall.
ECLIPSE – The lunar eclipse as seen from central Arkansas on Oct. 8, 2014.
BUSY AS A … — Carpenter bee visits a goldenrod spike during a sunny fall day.
Autumn morning, Arkansas style
We’d wondered over the last few weeks if autumn’s tremendous show would ever come to town and lamented that the color change seemed to be later than in previous years. Some years you can see the trees begin to change as early as August. However, fall finally came through and here’s what we saw before going to work last Thursday. (Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.)
The (Urban-Wildlife) Interface 