Highlights

OCTOBER 2020 - Sunset/Moonlight Bike Ride, Autumn Color

Sunset/Moonlight Bike Ride

A small group of cyclists braved the chilly weather to ride the East Bay Bike Path Friday night October 2.  In reality, as soon as we started to ride it turned out to be very comfortable.  The sunset was beautiful!!

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 INFO ALERT - Due to the summer drought and recent rainy nor'easters many leaves, having let go of their twigs, are already on the ground. Every day more are joining them. Sit under a deciduous tree on a quiet and still autumn day and you can hear the leaves let go and float down all around you.


Mother Nature's October palette - yellow, orange, red


Witch hazel leaves


Woodbine leaves


Sassafras leaves


Blueberry leaves



Tubifera ferruginosa, red raspberry slime mold



Black birch leaves



Scarlet oak leaves



Tremelia mesenterica, witches' butter fungus



American chestnut leaves



Maple leaves wet from the rain
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INFO ALERT - Peak fall color this coming week in our neck of the woods. Walk in beauty. It only occurs once a year. Admission is free, enjoy the show!

Despite the drought of summer and early fall and the frequent recent wind storms and rain blowing leaves prematurely off some trees, there is still plenty of color to see, right now, out in our natural environment.


The tupelo tree, Nyssa sylvatica, vies with the red maple, Acer rubrum, for the title of most intensely colored October tree. Are you as sweet as tupelo honey? We hope so. Most people only know this tree from the Van Morrison song, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq3YLhtuzTQ



Red maple, Acer rubrum, leaves come in just about every tint and shade of red, orange and yellow. Both trees in this photo are red maples. The mostly red tree, on the left, is growing in a wet area alongside a vernal pool. The mostly yellow tree, on the right, is growing from very dry soil alongside a dirt road. Soil moisture levels influence fall foliage color. Sugar maples are equally as colorful but are not native to our south coastal woodlands. They are, however, a common park, street and lawn tree and occasionally go feral.


The recent drought has made for a poor mushroom showing this fall. The most recent rains may have some hen of the woods, aka maitake, mushrooms popping up through the fallen leaves at the base of old oaks. A neat find if you are a mycophagist.

What are you waiting for? Take a hike.


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