Nature Noticings

The days are getting shorter, the moon is waxing, Halloween is drawing near. It's easy to notice the spooky things in nature right now. For example, when you're out walking in the half-light of dawn and a spider web catches you across the face.  Cross orb weaver web ( Araneus diadematus ) It's not our imagination: there are more spider webs in the fall. The spiders have grown up. The survivors are large and they make larger, more noticeable webs.  Females spiders need to catch extra food to support egg-laying. The males of many species are travelling by spider-silk lines, looking for females. Cooler fall mornings can also bring dew or frost, which makes webs more visible. Cross orb weaver web in the fog Not all spiders make classic webs that look like Charlotte's. The Sierra dome spider ( Neriene litigiosa ), for example, makes webs that are indeed dome-shaped, or sometimes inverted like bowls. They are interesting, but I have to admit they are not terribly spooky. Sier...

Autumn seems a little late this year; maybe it's the dry weather. Finally, though, the trees are really starting to turn. I love it when individual leaves change color in patterns, like the perennial geranium leaf below. It looks like the green color is being sucked down the veins toward the center of the leaf and the stem, leaving the red and purple behind to create a fringe. Perennial geranium leaf This reminds me of something I learned in a biology class somewhere along the way. In the autumn, I seem to recall, plants pull the chlorophyll in from their leaves before the leaves fall, and save it for the next spring. Chlorophyll is the green pigment that aids in photosynthesis. Looking at this geranium leaf, I can almost imagine the plant sucking down the chlorophyll into the stem like a milkshake going through a straw. As it turns out, I didn't quite have things right in my memory. In reality, the chlorophyll is broken down into simpler molecules while still in the leaf. Howe...