Monthly Archives: October 2019

Asters’ Last Stand

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Autumn is such a beautiful season. It evokes nostalgia, I guess, for the spring and summer seasons preceding it, and then comes up with its own color palette on the way to the grays and browns of dormancy. That very transformation may be why it’s my favorite season. I also love the cool, crisp mornings and the angle of the light. And now I will be loving the cool that much more because it will be outside my house instead of inside. I began writing this post tonight during my new furnace installation.

Common Yellowthroat (female)
  • Cicada Killer Wasp

This is a short, discombobulated tribute to my native garden that continues to evolve with all the visitors it attracts.

  • Yellow-Rumped Warbler
  • Bumblebees

I stepped out the front door a few days ago and found the asters buzzing with activity…

I don’t know how many Northern Cardinals are here, as I have not seen more than one at a time lately. But it was nice to have one that seemed more curious than shy.

  • Red Milkweed Beetle
  • Deer Fly

I haven’t been birding enough lately to report about fall migrants. I did find the two warblers featured in this post right outside two weekends ago. I hope to lead a bird walk at Columbus Park this coming Saturday and maybe we will see some more birds. The House Finch and Downy Woodpecker are regulars in my yard.

  • House Finch
  • Downy Woodpecker (female)
  • Common Yellowthroat
Cabbage White Butterfly
  • European Paper Wasp
  • Northern Paper Wasp

This was the very last Monarch Butterfly in my backyard garden on October 5.

Goodbye to all the butterflies, and it seems most of the bees and other pollinators are done for the year as well. The leaves are taking on their fall colors. The evenings are colder and the days are much shorter. Halloween is on the horizon. The New England Asters in the backyard have grown back over the sidewalk. And my new furnace is working.

On the Water

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Well, I took way too many photographs on the pelagic tour in the Bay of Fundy… it was primarily a whale-watching boat tour, but we got to see plenty of birds too. It was a beautiful day. And I am convinced the Humpback Whales know exactly what’s going on and they willingly provide entertainment. I believe we saw 9 of them – with the captain of the boat calling each one by name, depending on the pattern of white coloring underneath its tail.

Great Shearwater and Herring Gull
Humpback Whale
  • Cell phone scenes from the boat…
A pod of three Humpbacks…

Here’s another Storm-Petrel to add to my life list.

  • Wilson’s Storm-Petrel

As we got closer to the whales…they seemed to become more active.

One or two of a Sooty Shearwater…

  • Sooty Shearwater

We had a lot of Great Black-backed Gulls throughout the tour, but I seem to have captured a only Herring Gulls in these photos. It is remarkable to take a photograph of a bird flying alongside the boat – it occurred to me going through these shots that you rarely get this perspective.

Great Shearwaters outnumbered every other species but I adore them and think they’re very photogenic. You can see how they got their name, looking in one or two photos like they’re walking on water…

Of course we were eager to see Atlantic Puffins. There weren’t many close to the boat but I did my best to capture this one…or two?

A Common Tern, not too close to the boat…

I invite you to click on the series of pictures below – I know they look a lot alike but whales don’t move as fast as birds and between the boat motion and the whales themselves maybe you get some of the idea of what it was like to see them…

I might add that the water was clean, free of debris and wonderful to see.

I will be back with more pictures from the trip to New Brunswick and Grand Manan. I have been home today trying to get my heat fixed, so that has given me a little more time to attend to this post. So far the repairman doesn’t know what’s wrong, but the sun is shining and we should be warm enough in the house for the next few days. I hope to get it fixed soon and not have to take any more time off of work.