Martha's Backyard Blog - October 13, 2024

Fall is upon us for real. On October 10, the outdoor temperature was about 41 F, and the water temperature was about 52 F. I've been holding back on fish flakes and the Fishes seem not to have minded too much. The Pond is covered with a leaf net to prevent the dead leaves from going to the bottom of the Pond before I can scoop them off the top. The Froggs don't seem to mind being down there.

Here is the whole pond under the net. You can see that we aren't getting much information from these pictures, but here is some. I go out several times a day to test the water temperature - this morning it was about 51 F. I've weaned the fishes down to a few flakes a day. They seem interested but need to get their metabolisms cooled down for the long winter to come. You can still see live plants under the water in pictures two and three. Another thing I will have to do is to trim the underwater growth - hopefully before ice covers the surface,

After a couple of days, I took the net off the Pond, as it wasn't collecting more leaves than I could scoop off in a couple of scooping sessions in a day. Here are some unfettered Froggs, Froggy and Froggette on October 12.

But there is still more to the Backyard than what is underwater. Every day I can still get a few pictures of a creature I haven't seen in a long time. Even the Goldenrod has not gone completely dormant yet, but it and a lot of other things will be doing just that as winter approaches more and more determinedly.

I keep promising to show you Drymus unus Bugs a-mating, but I haven't even sighted one couple so disposed. But individuals are still out there.

Here is a scene out of summer. Remember when those tiny Fraternal Wasps were delightedly tasting the new tiny berries of the Coral Berries? Here they are now this week. (The berries, not the wasps!!)

This fellow is a stilt bug member of genus Jalysus. Colleague @kgrebennikov of iNat gave three possibilities for this ID, since I am lacking the lateral view needed: wickhami, spinosus, or reductus. At any rate it is a Stilt Bug because of its long legs.

Here is the Coppery Leafhopper, Jikradia olitoria, one of my favorite Leafhoppers. It goes through an interesting nymphhood, and doesn't really resemble the adult until it is really close to its final stage. Next are a few other Leafhoppers.

Here are a few other Leafhoppers. First and second seem to belong to the genus Eratoneura. The second one is E. ardens (I think I showed you this one last time but no harm seeing a useful picture again. The third one I did not recognize at first. It turns out to be one that I've seen time and time again, but not this year. It's Erasmoneura vulnerata. I think the vulnus (wound) may be the white gash along the exterior wing.

Here are some more Bugs. I think this first one is the Eastern Boxelder Bug (we see a lot of these about this time of year). Second is a beautiful big Green Stink Bug. Third is a North American Tarnished Plant Bug Lygus lineolaris.

Some beetles? Well, it was a good week for Asian Lady Beetles. Again, look at the neck - if it says "W" or "M" it is an Asian Lady Beetle. If it doesn't show any spots, that doesn't mean anything either. (I think.)

On the night of October 10, Sue Farley called me at 10 pm - I usually am brutal when a person who wants to sell me something calls at that hour, but she reminded me that we were supposed to have a pretty good display of the Aurora borealis - the Northern Lights. She told me her relatives or friends had called her from another state and said that they had seen them. They suggested she aim her cell phone at the sky and take a LONG shot of the sky. Here is what she saw with no fancy equipment in her own backyard. It is them! We don't usually have auroras bright enough to see with the naked eye. But here you can see a big splot of red and down closer to the horizon a green section. That's them! The Northern Lights. We have had a few good shows here but not lately and not very bright. You can sort of tell they are there. There might be a faint hint of red mixed with the black of the sky. I've seen that much a few times lately but never had the camera, even the cellphone, with me.

I got up and looked for Chaim, but just then he called. He had already driven out to D Drive north and offered to come back and get me so I said Come and get me! We stayed there for about an hour, and Chaim used his nice camera to get quite a lot of long-exposure (I think one of his shots took 30 seconds) pictures - and were they shocking! The colors - mainly red and green, but mixed with every other hue, were stunning. These are a couple of his pictures.

Here are some more. It was an amazing evening. I had begun to think I wasn't likely to see this phenomenon again. But now I look forward to seeing more! As time went by, you could tell the show was diminishing in strength, but what a treat!

I remember the first Auroral storm I ever saw, in Potsdam, NY, when we lived out of town at Meadow East. I was visiting some friends, the Mukundans!, who lived a short distance from us. They had invited me for a picnic outdoors and about the time I decided it was time to go home, the sky started to look funny at the western horizon. It was as if a faint spotlight was shining upward. As I approached my apartment the spotlight turned into a sort of wave machine. All across the sky, waves were going by overhead. I lay down on my sidewalk for hours in absolute awe. Those lights were not in vivid colors like these, just whitish or yellowish, but the motion made them special. I have never seen that kind of aurora since.

By the way, I get email every morning from https://spaceweather.com/. They tell you if any big CME's (Coronal Mass Ejections) have been produced in a sunspot. The strength of these energy bursts can tell you your chances of seeing an auroral display. There are tiles on that webpage so you can contact or subscribe to them. What a great resource!

Well, my friends, I hope you are still able to get out and enjoy what is left of our Fall, and plan what to do to help your garden, however small, to weather and improve our chances of climate changes such as we have been seeing play out these past few weeks.