October 19, 2025: Witch Hazel

Late fall is when Witch Hazel puts on its highly unusual show, and it's an appropriate time with Halloween just around the corner.  Witch hazel is the only shrub or tree I can think of that blooms in October, and it has really interesting flowers.

The twisted, filament-like flowers of Witch Hazel.

The seeds are maturing now as well.

The woody capsule which typically contains two seeds.

But these are the pods from last autumns flowers.  They will soon burst open in halves and shoot their seeds far and wide - up to 20 feet away.  I cut one open (it wasn't easy) and this was its contents:

The two large black seeds in the seed pod of the witch hazel.

Staying with the Wicwas witch theme, how about this cute little orb-weaver spider, the kind that weave beautiful geometric webs using those dexterous legs and all the different types of silk it creates:

An Orb-weaver spider, probably a Cross Orb-weaver

It's most likely a female, and on its final days as they don't survive the winter.  I gave it a little nudge with my finger and it curled right up to protect itself with all those legs.

Another classic October sight is flocks of turkeys that have gathered up together, traveling the land in search of food to fatten up for winter.  You frequently see them along roadsides, especially near fields, and though they usually run off the road and disappear into the woods, sometimes they are reluctant to do so.  I've seen them recently along local roads, at Oakland Cemetery, and yesterday morning, at the end of our road.

While I was enjoying the bright foliage of maple trees during a paddle this week, I came upon yet another hornets' nest, this one hanging over the lake from Sheep Island. 

This nest was about the size of a large melon - quite a bit smaller than the one I found two weeks ago. 

 

Next up on my paddle was a Great Blue Heron stalking fish or frogs beside a marsh. 

I expect our herons will be heading south soon, or perhaps to the coast or large rivers where there's open water all winter.  I didn't see our young loon on my paddles this week, but it's still a little early for a juvenile to leave the lake.

The fall foliage is past peak now but there are still plenty of bright red and orange maples and a few yellow aspen dotting the landscape.  

Finally, we took one last ride on the Cannon Tramway before they shut it down for replacement.  It will take two years to get the new one installed.  Built in 1980 to replace the original tram built in 1938 (the first in all of North America), this old friend served us well for 45 years.  If you want to take one last ride, do it before October 26th - that will be the end.    😞

November 22, 2020: An Avian Love Triangle

It had been a quiet week on the lake until yesterday, when on a morning walk mother nature presented me with one wonder after another.  The most dramatic was the interaction of three Hooded Mergansers: two males in a lengthy encounter over a single female.

A trio of Hooded Mergansers

When I first saw them, the two males were circling around each other with the female some distance away.

It didn't take long before the action started, with one of the males swimming aggressively at the other.

I would assume the aggressor is the current mate of the female, trying to force off a would-be courter of his girl, but there's no way to be sure.  Un-mated mergansers will pair up in the fall and stay together through the winter months.  

After a few surface attacks, the fight became more animated and resulted in airborne maneuvers.  

The flight was short, with both of them circling back toward the object of their affection.

That swoop in the water shows their flight path.

But as they got close to her the battle was on again with one turning to push the other away.

This cycle repeated several times.  

After each foray they made their way back towards the female.  It makes me wonder what she is thinking.  Is she flattered?  Is she watching to see if she wants to pick a new mate?  Or is she just appalled by the whole ordeal?

She doesn't seem to be paying any attention to their antics.

Just looking away.

At any rate, after a stretch of this behavior, she either got fed up with it or decided that the distraction of one of their fights was a good time to take off and make her escape.

Watching, waiting for the right moment to make her exit.

In the foreground of the next photo you can see the wake from where she took off in the opposite direction just before the guys landed:

But she didn't get far - both males were immediately off in hot pursuit.

Running on the water for take-off.

Airborne!

It didn't take long for them to catch up to her.

And with that, they were gone, sure to continue their challenge elsewhere on the lake.  We'll never know who was threatening and who was defending, but it was fascinating to watch the competitive forces of nature in action.

Farther along my walk I saw, way far out in the lake, what I thought was my first loon sighting in many days.  It's behavior told me it had caught a large fish, too large to swallow alive, and the loon was playing with it, tiring it out enough to swallow it.  A picture in the low light was just good enough to show this was in fact the case, and a little flash of orange indicates the bird was going to  have sunfish for breakfast.

It's an awful photo, but you can see how big the fish is.

It also looks as though it may be a merganser rather than a loon, but it's too grainy to be sure.  It seems like all our resident loons are now gone.

A few other observations from my walk:  First, the Witch Hazel have started to bloom.

A witch hazel blossom

This is the only plant I know of that blossoms in late fall, almost winter.

Second, the Hobblebush buds for next spring are already in place.

Next year's hobblebush viburnum.

Another unusual plant behavior: putting out buds in the fall.  Both of these have stories behind them, but they will have to wait for another day.

And finally, frost on the goldenrod.

Frosty goldenrod.

Even in November there's something new to see.