October is one of my favorite months -although you can never be quite sure what the weather will bring. Our first snow of the season can be as early as the first week in October! So far though, the month is full of sun and warmth. If it stays this way for a while it might just make up for the blasted hot summer we had. Other than a lot of busy squirrels, the first thing of interest today was this sign on the north side notifying park-goers of an archery deer hunt going on.
I knew the city has organized these in the past but this was the first time I'd seen signs posted about it. It's a bit of a catch-22 for deer living in an urban area like this. Though it's probably a somewhat safe and sheltered habitat, they're unlikely to ever stray too far from it as there's just too much city streets to navigate before reaching another habitable area. With such a small and defined habitat, they're subject to intensive control when their population grows even just a bit too large. It will be interesting to see what the results are at the end of the hunt in mid December. The park doesn't really have a lot of great "fall color" trees, except for a few maples on the outlying areas surrounding the baseball fields and tennis courts.
Still, it's apparent that the drastically wet summer, followed by an extremely dry Fall has had some unusual effects on the foliage. Some trees that were beautifully red this time last year have already dropped their leaves, while other trees haven't even started to turn yet. Amazingly you can find extreme variation on the same tree or plant like the one pictured here -which I think is a grapevine. With all the warm sun on the trail this time of year you have to watch your step just like you do in the Spring time.
Only now it's not snails but grasshoppers that pepper the pavement in hopes of soaking up some warmth. These particular ones can get pretty big. This was my 3rd or 4th attempt at a photo -as they can move just a bit faster than a snail!
I knew the city has organized these in the past but this was the first time I'd seen signs posted about it. It's a bit of a catch-22 for deer living in an urban area like this. Though it's probably a somewhat safe and sheltered habitat, they're unlikely to ever stray too far from it as there's just too much city streets to navigate before reaching another habitable area. With such a small and defined habitat, they're subject to intensive control when their population grows even just a bit too large. It will be interesting to see what the results are at the end of the hunt in mid December. The park doesn't really have a lot of great "fall color" trees, except for a few maples on the outlying areas surrounding the baseball fields and tennis courts. 
Still, it's apparent that the drastically wet summer, followed by an extremely dry Fall has had some unusual effects on the foliage. Some trees that were beautifully red this time last year have already dropped their leaves, while other trees haven't even started to turn yet. Amazingly you can find extreme variation on the same tree or plant like the one pictured here -which I think is a grapevine. With all the warm sun on the trail this time of year you have to watch your step just like you do in the Spring time. 
Only now it's not snails but grasshoppers that pepper the pavement in hopes of soaking up some warmth. These particular ones can get pretty big. This was my 3rd or 4th attempt at a photo -as they can move just a bit faster than a snail!
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