Fall is Passing
Another Sunday, another chance to make a coffee and settle down. This week:
Fall leaves, some rather small and unusual fungi, Snow Geese passing through, wild garden wildlife matters, a selection of links you might find it interesting to visit. Starting with …
Fall leaves
I lived in England for 50 years before coming to Canada and although there is plenty of colour in the trees there in autumn I remember that the dominant colours are shades of brown except when non-native trees and been planted. Hence it was a delightful surprise to find that Quebec has whole forests full of gold and red and yellow and almost all the colours of the rainbow. This year, this week in fact, has been amazing with peak colour appearing just a two or three days ago. It’s a cliché, but the world really is ablaze just now - there is one tree down the road from me in a neighbours garden, a huge old maple, which has bright yellow leaves that turn a mahogany red (or is the other way around?) … but not all at once so the two colours are present together. Next week most of the leaves will start to fall and I can look forward to the joys of scooping them out of my garden pond before they sink and decay … but that’s in the future and I am not going to worry too much right now.
Fungi - plenty of colourful “toadstools” around at this time of year but there are other fungi of a more shy and retiring nature, usually drably coloured. This one for example - Fluted Bird's Nest Fungus (Cyathus striatus). The nests or cups are less than 1cm acoss and the sides of the cup are angled such that falling drops of water will dislodge the peridioles and eject them from the cup - peridioles being the name given to what are often called “eggs” which contain the spores. Evolution being what it is has ensured that the cup walls form at a 70-75 degree angle, thus creating perfect conditions for launching outwards when a raindrop hits.
There are some 30 species of birds’ nest fungi (Nidulariaceae) in North America. They feed on decomposing material, like wood, mulch, and leaves. When the spores land on suitable organic material, they attach to it and start the next phase of their life cycle. Herbivores can eat organic matter with bird’s nest fungi attached and thereby spread the fungus’s spores in their droppings.
Snow Geese
Gorgeous birds (I am told that they taste good too) are moving south in vast flocks, stopping off in fields along the St-Lawrence to pose for their photographs and to sign autographs for equally numerous flocks of birders.
We are finally in the period of closing things down for the cold months ahead. This week we have removed the pump from the pond before the water gets too cold to wade in. We have also installed additional bird feeders to supplement the summer ones and there are some cool-weather seedlings (mostly mustard greens and two varieties of kale) getting under way in the greenhouse.
Birds are already feeding themselves from the many standing seed heads.
The metallic structure in the back of the picture is the base of a 30+ foot tall radio antenna mast installed for the second winter by researchers from McGill University with the purpose of tracking the winter movements of radio-tagged Northern Cardinals.
The other thing that’s “Falling” in our gardens, however wildlife friendly we make them, is the population of butterflies and bees. This is pretty much the case whichever country or continent your garden lies in … have a read of this short article. There are things we gardeners can do to help:
Encouragingly, I gave a talk a few days ago to on old-established gardening society in an adjacent town. I spoke on the subject of wildlife gardening to an audience of a few over 50 keen gardeners. The town’s mayor and couple of his councillors interested in instituting public wild/native gardens were present. It was encouraging to see the interest and to get plenty of knowledgeable questions afterwards … it was almost as good to be offered cookies and tea/coffee. My sort of people 👍
One of the most valuable things you can do to support pollinators and other invertebrates is to provide them with the shelter they need to survive the winter. Thankfully, that’s pretty easy; all you need to do is do less yard work.
A few interesting links that readers may enjoy …
What a ruling by Ontario's top court could mean for the future of climate litigation
"This is the strongest decision ever in Canada about a constitutional obligation to address climate change." … "This decision opens the door for other cases that challenge policy decisions made by governments where they are backtracking on climate targets they've set in the past, or moving away from climate targets that the previous government might have set,"
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/court-of-appeal-ontario-decision-1.7356540
This is awful … More hen harriers killed in UK during 2023 than in any other year, RSPB says
Shooting estates have historically killed birds of prey because of fears the raptors will eat game birds such as grouse, meaning there are fewer for people to shoot. Birds traditionally targeted include rare and threatened species such as golden eagles, hen harriers, peregrine falcons, white-tailed eagles and goshawks.
‘The bully of the bird table’: how the humble starling conquered the world
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/19/bird-table-starling-conquered-world-songbird
The Owls Who Came From Away
https://hakaimagazine.com/features/the-owls-who-came-from-away/
Two years ago, the world promised to protect nature. Pressure is mounting to deliver
https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/cop16-biodiversity-setup-1.7356377
Jam transeunt autumnalis. A sad time for me as fall is my favorite time of year.
A great collection of items today you brought to us! I could comment on (almost) every one but the Constitution change really caught my eye. Thanks for your work.
Lovely selection of items. Bird nests fungi are wonderful, I recently found a large patch of them in Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens. Scotland's autumn colours are more beautiful than England's (but unlikely to be as spectacular as those seen in North America).