Yes, there are signs of Autumn. A few red leaves are showing up and the image above is the big rock at the Stamp Act sandbar with the red leaves of the black gum showing up. It is close to the equinox so things are supposed to changed….
There have been a few nice days in the 70s with nice sun and one of them was associated with Florence that came and left around noon. By the evening, the lake was delightful.
Below is one of the first signs of Fall with the loon starting to lose its summer plumage. Now, in transition to the winter plumage, there is a white mustache. The loons will look shabbier and shabbier until they look like winter loons and head for the coast.
At this time of year, it seems that the cormorants show up in large numbers. These are non-breeding birds and may just be wandering around and then find friends on our lake. They dive for fish but also can lift off the water and fly much more easily than loons. Their heads are very slim so it is easy to tell them apart from loons. One interesting thing is that they often are seen holding their wings in the air to dry as they don’t have enough waterproofing to keep them dry.
They jump into the air and then have 5 or 8 wing beats where there wings touch the water and then they are in the air. Loons take dozens of wing beats to get into the air…..
The red leaves are of black gum. They turn early so are one of he first signs of Fall. The tree is also called a pepperidge tree or tupelo. This tree is on Stamp Act where there is the Black Gum Swamp
And it seems that there is a kingfisher explosion. They are everywhere and go “kack kack kack kack” as they fly between perches. They catch small fish as they dive into the water but they seem to be quite shy and fly away when you are 50 yards or more from them.
People are taking out their boats because of the draw down but that makes it quieter for the kayaks and canoes.