Wow! What an unexpected gift of warmth this late in the season. Today was as balmy as yesterday was frigid, and I'll bet you can guess how I spent the afternoon. I had meant to put my canoe in the basement, but I sure am glad it was still tied to my car. So off I went to the river. Not a cloud in the sky and only a wisp of wind now and then, perfect for just ambling along under the banks, where the sunlight danced in reflected ripples on the rocks and the trunks of trees.
I noticed a lot of saplings had been gnawed right off, and soon I came to a pile of fresh-cut limbs arranged against the bank. Must be a beaver family is starting to build a new home.
Remember that tiny fluffy fly I showed a few posts back? Well, here is a clump of Wooly Alder Aphids at another stage of development. At first, I wondered if this was a lichenous growth, until I looked close and saw that the clump was made up of tiny writhing creatures.
Here's a closer shot of some of the individual aphids.
How quickly the sun heads down these late fall afternoons! It seems I had hardly been on the river an hour before the surrounding mountains began to shadow the opposite bank. But today, because it was so warm, even the shadows seemed lovely. I saw another paddler out there, taking in this exquisite scene.
4 comments:
Only another paddler understands the positive yearning one feels upon looking out at beautiful smooth water, like the river was today -!
After seeing the river late this afternoon in SGF, I went directly home and loaded up the kayak!
and your blog just inspires me to get out there too.
Wow, the incredibly deep orange of that once young tree!
I have only recently been acquainted with wooly alder aphids, and they have to be one of the weirdest things I've seen in nature by far. I had one land on my finger not too long ago and was afraid to even breath slightly near it, they seem as if one breath from a human could kill them dead.
Weather here in southern PA was great yesterday too--a real bonus day to the season. I was out rambling about in shirt sleeves. I love your shadow shot. That's a really good one!
Carolyn h.
Sue, I hope you had a great paddle. There's no sensation like that of gliding across smooth water through a landscape like the ones we have around us.
Lindsey, thanks for your comment. Those aphids are indeed fragile. I tried to separate a clump to isolate an individual, and all that fluffy stuff collapsed into a mess of waxy gunk. Sorry, little bug!
Hello, Carolyn, enjoy the balmy weather while we may. I loved that shadow shot, too. Thanks.
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