october

Explore! By Master Naturalist Pam Johnson.  All photos (c) Pam Johnson/JDCF.

The old Curiosity cabinets, popular from the early 17th until the end of the 19th century, were made of wood and glass and were built to house collection of oddities or curiosities, mostly from the natural world.

The philosophy was quite simple: collecting objects was a means toward universal knowledge. These were often done by private collectors. Besides documenting simply where and when the objects were found, the collectors often wrote short descriptions that accompanied each object. These were kept in a cabinet or catalogue, or placed near the object. Over time, large collections of objects accumulated and were eventually incorporated together into what we now call “museums.”

I am fascinated with the idea and somehow it has made its way into my house in the form of my own collections. Small samples are a bug collection that my daughter did in college and a shell collection that my mother gathered on her travels.

As fall approaches and the leaves are turning a kaleidoscope of colors and the nuts and berries have formed, I think about the curiosity box idea. The following idea came from a class held by the Illinois Natural History Society. We students were given a box with dividers and asked to collect objects around us on a walk. I looked for things that I found interesting and had me curious. I collected mushrooms, unusual rocks, nuts, berries, and feathers. I have used the idea with my grandkids. We took a similar box on a walk and they collected things of interest. When we got home, we labeled them and tried to identify them.

We are seeing kettles of hawks traveling high over the prairies. Warblers are migrating and they are harder to identify in the winter plumage. Wood ducks take on eclipse feather phase. Birds generally molt when they are not having to feed their young. Long distance migrants molt before they migrate, after they migrate or partly before and partly after migration.

The migrating birds are gathering for the long journey to their winter homes. Species will travel together using navigation methods similar to what humans used before they had technologies such as GPS. According to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Handbook of Bird Biology, they are able to sense the earth’s magnetic field in multiple ways (p. 473) Birds are able to use celestial cues from the night sky to orient their migratory journeys. During the day they might use the position of the sun as an indicator of direction. (p.475).
I often follow Cornell Labs Live Bird migration maps to see when I might start seeing birds in our area. Live bird migration maps – BirdCast

Come October, sparrows, ducks, scoters, and loons as well as different species of hawks migrate through Illinois. You might see Sharp-shinned, Cooper’s Hawks, Red-tailed hawks, Peregrine Falcons and Merlins in the sky on a clear day. The Mergansers, Ruddy Ducks, Blue and Green-winged Teal and other ducks are migrating along the Mississippi flyway.

Sandhill Cranes are flying, too. In October and November on a clear, sunny day you can hear their rattling calls in the sky as they fly in formation to warmer climates. In Illinois impressive numbers of geese fly overhead or feast in cornfields in October, November and December—if you look among the crowd of geese, you may find some Snow Geese, and a few White-fronted Geese. Cedar Waxwings are also traveling in groups stopping for berries on the Red Cedar trees or the Black Cherry trees. They can strip these trees of fruit in a matter of days.

Nuts and berries have developed on many of the trees, shrubs and plants. Oak acorns and walnuts from the Black Walnuts are everywhere on good mast years.

A common bird seen throughout the season busy gathering the nuts, is the White Nuthatch. They get their common name from their habit of jamming large nuts and acorns into tree bark, then whacking them with their sharp bill to “hatch” out the seed from the inside. White-breasted Nuthatches may be small but their voices are loud, and often their insistent nasal yammering will lead you right to them. White-breasted Nuthatch Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Fall is a wonderful time for a walk. The changing leaves in red, yellows, maroon and pale green are a kaleidoscope in the breezes. Vines are more obvious in the fall because many of them have unique fruit. Their fruit makes perfect Halloween decorations. Some of my favorites are the berries from the blue-black Carrion flowers and the orange bittersweet berries. The ghostly white seeds of the Virgin’s Bower cling to the trees. Wild Cucumber vines can look creepy with their spikey fruit and wilting pale-yellow leaves.