Scenes of Fall – Autumn in Maine

As I have mentioned in other posts, the fall is and always will be my favorite season. Since moving to Maine, the fall and winter have been really great for getting outdoors for seasonal activities and photography. I find going outdoors for the later part of the spring and summer are not so good for me. The property is surrounded by running water, which is beautiful, but also attracts the dreaded black fly (Simuliidae). Black fly season in Maine typically starts in mid-May and these insects will hang around until mid-June or later. I’m going to go with the later, because every time I think it safe to go outside, I will have acquired a new black fly bite. I am one of the lucky few, who is allergic to these bites. A couple of summers ago, I was almost hospitalized with a severe infection on my neck after being bitten twice. I though it was a rash from the sun at first, because I am also one of the lucky few, who is also allergic to the sun. After three weeks of antibiotics and cold compresses, the infection had gone away. I will spare you from viewing the photographs I had taken from that event. Since then, I now have to wear a head insect net, long sleeves and pants. This includes every time I go outside, even to go to the mailbox. The only safe place seems to be the pool. Anyway, enough of that. This brings me back to the point of how wonderful the fall season is. With very few bugs to deal with, I could get outside into the woods of the backyard and observe the daily changes that come with the season.

The following photographs and videos are a collection from the time I spent outside around the yard and or daily walks during the month of October. I tried to capture the changing leaves and lighting, as well as some subtle details as the days of the month had gone by. I hope you enjoy and I only wish the fall foliage lasted longer than it does.

The early fall canopy

Sugar maple leaves (Acer saccharum)

A shaded sugar maple leaf (Acer saccharum)

Looking up at the maple leaves (Acer), against a blue sky

Changing oak leaves (Quercus)

A fall leaf covered ground

Looking up at the tree canopy

A red maple leaf (Acer rubrum), at the bottom of the stream

Fall golden-colored leaves

Brightly colored leaves

Fall ferns (Polypodiopsida)

Warm fall colors

Autumn leaves against a black background

A fallen red maple leaf (Acer rubrum), resting on moss (Bryophyta)

Fallen crunchy autumn leaves

Decomposing maple leaves (Acer), resting on moss (Bryophyta)

A fallen sugar maple leaf, (Acer saccharum)

This is my first photograph I took, using a new polarizing filter. Do you think the blue in the sky looks more dramatic?

Here is a video of the fall foliage on a beautiful and slightly breezy day.

A group of mushrooms (Fungi), growing on moss

Fungus growing on an old tree stump

Mushrooms growing on a dead log

Lichen

Moss (Bryophyta)

A group of mushrooms (Fungi)

While I was out taking photographs in a section of the backyard that has a mixture of mosses, lichen and mushrooms, I was greeted by this cheeky American red squirrel. I’m not sure if it was greeting me or chattering at me in protest. I have a feeling it was the latter. I took a few photographs and video of it, before it took off.

An American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), climbing branches

An American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), looking at the camera

An American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), in the sunlight

Our road during the early fall

One of the old logging trails we walk on in the fall

An apple tree bathed in the autumn light

A photograph taken from one our recent walks. There are now fewer leaves on the trees and it is starting to get darker earlier now.

Snow covered leaves after our first light snowfall

Here are a couple of photographs from our first snow storm during the end of October. I believe they called for 3-5 inches of snow, but we only got about 1-3 inches. It turned into freezing rain overnight and we even had thunder and lightning. The power went as well. We lost power three times this month.

Falling snow

A visiting white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis), during the snowstorm

These pictures are from an attempt at photographing the stream next to the house. This day was slightly cloudy with the sun coming through at times. I took two photographs, one at a shutter speed of 1/30 of a second and the second photograph at 1 second. The sunlight really affected the type of photograph I was going for and not in a good way. There is too much reflection on the water from the sun. I have since picked up neutral density filters for these types of shots and I hope to start using them soon in order to remedy this problem.

A stream filled with fall leaves

An autumn stream

I only received two mosquito bites while taking these photographs. Did I mention, they love to bite me, too. I hope you enjoyed these few scenes of fall and now it is time to move into November.