An Autumn Excursion - The Season of Change
An autumn excursion September is an unpredictable month that is sometimes warm and sunny, sometimes cold and windy. It’s that slice of the year when the people, plants and wildlife are in an urgent transition as they prepare for the inevitable winter hardships. The weather this fall in the foothills has been mild so the dried grasses are a warm mixture of orange and brown. Most of the aspen trees are just beginning to change but in the deepest, darkest drainages, the groves are glowing bright yellow. During our last excursion, along the forest’s edge, we watched as a herd of elk grazed heartily while the bull bugled theatrically. A family of Abert’s squirrels gathered food furiously and horded it safely in the heights of a ponderosa pine. Most of the birds are gone but a few will stay through the cold including the hardy red-tailed hawk who will extract voles directly out of the snow. It must be the finches’ favorite time of the year as they feed on the seed-bearing thistle ...