Fall Colors: Orange

Late October. The air is cooler. Colors are more muted. A leaf that last week was bright yellow has now turned dark with splotches of orange and brown. Dogwood trees glow like fire as their leaves morph: green to orange to pink. The sunlight is softening. There's a smell of rich decay in the air. Leaves fall and crunch as you walk. Migrant warblers stop for a rest on their way south. Year round resident birds fatten up on seed and bugs and berries. Butterflies and bees seem more intent as they search for the last blooms of the season. Damp woods and dead branches invite fungal spores and detritivores. I turn to the fall colors to reassure me that no matter what else is happening around me, the seasons turn and nature abides. 

Orange is the color of leaves turning, berries ripening.

Tulip Poplar leaf turning from yellow to gold

The orange of Sassafras

Pyracantha Berries are tasty treats for the birds

Orange veins in leathery leaves

Dogwood leaves glowing like fire

Orange is the colors of fungi, bright on the forest floor.

Earth tone rainbow of a Turkey Tail fungus

Mushroom cluster

Frilly orange fungus and green lichen

Coral fungus feeds a Carolina Mantleslug

Orange is late fall flowers and the butterflies hungrily feeding and searching for host plants where they can lay their eggs.

Jewelweed 

Buckeye feeding on Blue Mist Flower

Orange is the rusty sides of bluebirds and warblers who come to our yard for sustenance and respite.

Eastern Bluebird

Bay-breasted Warbler