Maine Nature News
Vol. 10, no. 44 Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Quick jumps: This week's report | Special October rainfall graphs | From the Press | Home page
Correction to last
week's Maine Nature News: The two pictures accompanying C.B.K.'s report
of Tuesday, October 18 actually depicted two different kinds of mushrooms.
So I should not have put an arrow on the left-hand picture of shaggy mane
mushrooms as if it were a closeup of the one on the right. The shaggy mane
mushrooms are not the ones growing in the circle around the oak
tree!.
If I were more observant I would have noticed that C.B.K
actually described the mushrooms growing around the oak tree as " . . .
smaller, unidentified mushrooms of at least two different kinds . . ."
The
shaggy manes grow in open grassy areas and without any other relationship to
trees or neighboring vegetation. F.W., editor
Tuesday-Wednesday,
October 25-26. Windsor (Map 13) I awoke
on Tuesday the 25th to a misty rain falling at about 4:30 am. The wind was light
but constant at about 10 mph. The temperature was about 42° F.
By noon the wind had increased, gusting to about 30 mph and
the temperature had dropped to about 39°. Midafternoon brought heavy sleet,
there had been a mixing for an hour or so before this. Wind gusts probably
reached 45 mph and the temperature was 34°.
Nine pm conditions were still windy with a moderate rain/snow
mixture. Throughout all of this, there was occasionally accumulation of sleet on
colder surfaces: grass, railings, etc. There were reports of trees down in
town.
At 3:30 am on Wednesday the 26th, light rain mixing with an
occasional snowflake still falls, the wind is back at about 10 to 15 mph and the
temperature is at 37°. The ground is saturated and water runs heavily down this
hill. P.S.H.
Thursday, October 27. Caribou (Map 65) We were surprised to see a chipmunk appear at the bird feeders while we were watching today. We had thought the 3" of snow we got night before last would be enough to send the chipmunks underground until next spring. C.B.K.
Friday, October 28.
Orono (Map 23) We had completely removed our
deteriorated back deck. Before we replaced it, while we have the ground
open, I figured it was about time to dig
deeply around the back wall of the foundation of our house so we could paint it
with two coats of DryLok sealant to keep out water, and then insert foam
insulation panels into place, What weekend
did I pick to rent a backhoe mini-excavator to do this? Of course:
October 7-9 when we had historic record-breaking rains! Working before and
after the worst part, and a few hours in between, I got the excavation job
done. We covered the dirt piles with gigantic tarps so they clay soil wouldn't turn
into concrete, and later pumped the standing water out of the trenches.
Then when did we decide to paint the DryLok? On October
22, just
before another session of intense precipitation, of course! To keep the
temperature above 50° F. so the DryLok would apply properly and dry reasonably
fast, I rented a "Salamander" portable outdoor heater to blast the
walls with warm air. The job got done, but remind me not to do this sort
of thing in October again. Nature is in charge! F.W.
Sunday, October 30. Lambert
Lake (Map 46) Starting to drive home from Lambert Lake, at the last
minute I saw a garter snake crossing Route 6, right on the median stripe and half
in my lane. I looked in the rearview mirror and wasn't sure if I'd hit it.
I put
on the brakes and pulled over on the shoulder with flashers on. I got out and
checked the snake, it was fine but not moving, enjoying the warmth of the
asphalt. I started to shoo it from behind trying to speed its crossing. It could
not make fast headway on the smooth asphalt so it coiled and struck at my hiking
boot repeatedly. A car came along, I waved it to stop and ran to the shoulder in
case it didn't. I would not sacrifice my life to save a snake! The car did stop,
I ran out again behind the snake and it kept striking. I scraped it gently along
with my boot, finally it was on the shoulder and zipped into the grass. When I
finally looked up at the car, the people had big smiles!
I have often noted that garter snakes will coil and strike on
the road when they can't move fast, an ineffectual strategy against cars.
Also, October 30 is late for a garter snake to be out in this
part of Maine. J.K.M.
Sunday-Monday, October 30-31. Windsor (Map
13)
Sunday, October 30. Today was the day we
"turned back the clocks" and got back on our "standard"
clock settings. I found myself thinking about the animals and their time cycles;
of course their clocks don't change seasonally --- not quickly anyway. Theirs
change with the length of the daylight and this doesn't have much to do with
human's earthly ideas. Sunday began beautiful and still. For the first time in
more than a week we had full sun all day. My daughter and I found ourselves
wondering if this would quicken the rate of falling leaves. At this late date
their is still lots of foliage on the trees! Some that have been exposed to the
high winds have been stripped and it seems as if ash trees have "let
go" but maples and locusts in our neighborhood are still leafy.
The water has receded somewhat but still remains quite high.
I noted the NOAA weather station talking about 16 plus inches of rain above
normal for the year in Portland and I'm sure we're very close to that here.
Light breezes in the afternoon and sunshine: the day felt
warm in the mid fifties. There continue to be lots of crows but seemingly very
few blue jays here. Buzzards have been working on some carcass in neighboring
fields.
Monday, October 31. This morning before
sunrise it was warm and still --- warmer at least than it has been. We'll move
toward what is often the darkest month of the year (the one with the least
sunshine) with quite an October to compete with for a number. I'm hoping
November will be bringing more sunlight! P.S.H
Thursday, October 27.
Caribou (Map 65) An editorial in today's paper (Bangor
Daily News, p. A10 -- see below) states that this fall's foliage colors lack their usual
brilliance and that the "...oranges and rare reds that can be seen are
strangely muted." A university professor maintains that the "trees
need cool nights and early frosts to produce vivid colors," and a lengthy
explanation of the alleged causal mechanisms follows.
I take issue with most of
those claims, based upon my own observations in local residential areas and the
surrounding countryside. We didn't have a hard frost until the 21st of this
month, but one big maple across the street paid no attention to that somewhat
tardy chill and its leaves turned brilliant red about a week earlier. In fact it
always turns a beautiful red in the fall, and it also is the first tree in the
neighborhood to drop its leaves so they can be raked up and disposed of in
timely fashion. Just across the driveway from that tree is another beautiful
mature maple that always explodes into a glowing yellow radiance. It is the
second tree to drop its leaves and holds onto them until about a week after the
red one. Then there's a third huge maple across the lawn from the second one,
that provided a brilliant yellow spectacle with bright red highlights for more
than a week before we got about three inches of heavy, wet snow. Then its leaves
began to collect in a bright yellow pool on the melting snow.
I've been seeing
those trees for more than 30 years and their fall performance is always
predictable. By way of note, I've come to realize that some of the most
brilliant reds in the fall display are produced on what might be termed
"multiple-stemmed" maple trees. Those grow in clumps which never seem
to attain great trunk size or height, but they can be relied upon to add a nice
red to Nature's seasonal palette. C.B.K.
Special October rainfall graphs
This fall's foliage, now mixed with snow in some parts of Maine, has come mostly in yellow and burnt orange, with only a rare showing of the usual brilliant red. Not that this year's fall colors lack beauty, but they're giving us a different kind of beauty. The yellows are as brilliant as ever, but the oranges and the rare reds that can be seen are strangely muted. Why the change?
The primary reason is that average temperatures this fall have been higher than usual. Trees need cool nights and some early frosts to produce vivid colors. How this works is explained by an expert in the field, Professor Bill Livingston, chairman of the Department of Forest Ecosystem Science at the University of Maine.
Professor Livingston puts the warm fall in terms of degree days, a measure used by heating engineers. Since July 1, this year has had only 360 degree days, compared with an average of 565. And the first frosts around here didn't come until a few days ago.
Normally, the bright reds of fall appear on the red maples and red oaks. (Sugar maples turn mostly yellow, and other oaks turn mostly a shiny bronze color.) Yellow pigments are always there, but in the summer they are masked by the green chlorophyll. The chlorophyll produces sugar, which flows out of the leaves through the stems into the trees to supply energy for the growth of the trunk and branches. When the days grow shorter, the chlorophyll disintegrates, allowing the yellow pigment to show. An early frost slows or freezes the flow of sugar out of the leaves, and the remaining sugar produces the bright red pigments.
This fall, the sugar continued to flow out of the leaves, and not enough was left to produce much red. The result is that we see a lot of yellow, some rather restrained orange, and hardly any red. It may be too late for these recent frosts to take effect, but Professor Livingston says we may yet see a few red leaves before they fall. So enjoy what Nature has given us, a lovely fall with somewhat muted colors. And if you must have those brilliant reds, you probably will have to wait until next year.
Copyright 2005 Bangor
Daily News. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.
Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.