October 8, 1975
How we know autumn is here
by Ralph Miller
The past five weeks or so
has been a season of great
change, variety and inter-
est. When does the thought
of autumn first intrude upon
one’s consciousness? Some
might say - “When football
season begins’’ - others -
“When the stores display
the Fall clothes’ - but I
suggest for most of us it is
subconciously when those
first cool everiing come upon
us, when the first
leaves ahead of their time
take on autumn hues, and a
dozen similar signs.
For myself, 1 can not be
sure of what it was. Warm
days, cool nights. A few
stray red leaves on the
dogwood. Then a hot lazy
afternoon with just a few
bees buzzing about and
some assorted insects flying
over the flower borders,
with idle thoughts rambling
about one’s head interrup-
ted suddenly by the sight of
the erratic flight of a pale
tattered butterfly, a Tiger
swallowtail;to be sure. They
have been abundant all
summer in their bright black
and yellow colors. But this
one is different. It is only a
pale ghost of itself now. Its
wings are ragged and
tattered, both tails are gone,
and its colors are pale and
faded, as if signalling the
end of the season for itself.
However three or four
Monarch butterflies, richly
garbed in black and deep
orange-red and with a few
white spots at the tops of
their wings, soar and flap
strongly about. So why the
great contrast? Then we are
reminded that this Mon-
arch, which ‘has extraordi-
nary powers of flight, in
summer broods over most of
the continent well into
Canada, but with the com-
ing of autumn begins a great
migration southward in
streams much like our
migrating birds. Monarch
butterflies have been
sighted hundreds of miles
out at sea.
And around the same
time,but on another day, the
blue jays, cardinals, and
mocking birds seem to very
conspicuous and noisy all of
a sudden. As we listen we
become aware of the ab-
sence of familiar voices,
those of catbirds and robins.
A search the next day or
two reveals they have left on
their southward migration
few
. and if, in succeeding weeks,
an occasional robin appears,
and we notice it is silent and
seemingly shy, it is probable
that these robins aie tran-
sients from further north on
their own southward jour-
neys.
As if to add final proof
that another season is at
hand, during the past week
we have watched wood
warblers passing through on
the way to their winter
quarters, the southern Uni-
ted States and Central and
South America. One group
consisted of black-throated
green, bay-breasted and
magnolia warblers with a
few young cardinals and a
red-breasted nuthatch
thrown in for company. One
can only be amazed at the
seemingly limitless energy
of these tiny birds as they
ceaselessly flit about the
branches, suddenly launch-
ing out into the air to catch a
passing insect or flitting
over branches and twigs,
sometimes right side up and
again upside down. We
wonder how they can
complete some of those
* journeys which stretch out
into thousands of miles.
After the blight of the first
real cool nights and days
when some of the flowers
have faded away, there
seems to be a rejuvenation
in the garden with a
reflowering of plants
thought finished, such as
pinks and sweet williams.
Another portent -the
squirrels collecting their
harvest for the winter. Over
a period of three of four
weeks, I collected four trash
cans full of trash from the
walnut tree outside the
kitchen porch, half of which
consisted of the hulls and
shells of walnuts, some only
slightly nibbled at or bitten
into. No, we didn’t get any
walnuts ourselves. To add
insult to injury, many a time
as we stooped to gather the
leavings, there was a
constant rain of pieces of
hulls and shells, as if the
squirrels had deliberately
moved into position over-
head and had thrown down
the debris to warn us the
walnuts belonged to them.
For a while it was worth
one’s life to pass under the
oak on the other side of the
house for they pelted down a
veritable shower of acorns.
Lu“
: SUSQUEHANNA BULLETIN — Page 17.
Autumn nature show to start at Lake Aldred
With the arrival of fall,
Pennsylvania Power & Light
Company invites the public
to enjoy the color of the
season at its Lake Aldred
recreation area nature trails.
Located on the lower
Susquehanna River, in Lan-
caster and York Counties,
Lake Aldred is the site of a
hydrelectric station opera-
ted by PP&L The Public
recreation areas are opera-
ted as a spin-off to this
operation.
Lake Aldred offers three
major hiking trails for
photography, sightseeing
and nature study:
*Otter Creek Nature Trail
on the York County side of
the Susquehanna River,
traverses a region that is
both historic and picture-
esque.
*Pequea Creek Nature
Trail offers another excel-
len opportunity for nature
study and observation of the
changing foilage. This trail
is about one-half mile long
and is connected to the
Charcoal Trail which is also
about a half mile long.
*Kellys Run Trail is about
1-3/4 miles long and leades
through more rugged ter-
rain. It’s designed for the
more experienced hiker.
The scenic reward will be
well worth the effort taken
to traverse this trail, espec-
ially at this time of year.
Arch Knisely, PP&L’s
Community Affairs manager
said, ‘‘Information on all the
facilities at Lake Aldred
along with trail maps can be
obtained from the office of
George Aukamp, Lake Al-
dred superintendent or
Otter Creek and Pequea
Creek park directors.’’
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