What to See This Week

Fall color has certainly arrived at The Arboretum. One of the dominant trees in our native woodlands is the sugar maple. Sugar maples are popular trees for a variety of reasons. They have great wildlife value and are how we make maple syrup! One of the best things about sugar maples is their fall color. They are predominantly orange with some yellows and reds. A great spot to see sugar maples this time of year is around the North Loop of the Auto Tour.

Hickories also provide great fall color like this shagbark hickory. Every year hickories turn a very golden yellow color and can sometimes be picked out from a distance just based on their fall color!

Poison ivy isn’t always talked about fondly, but it deserves some attention, especially in the fall. Poison ivy can have a huge range of colors from yellow all the way to deep purples. It has white fruits as seen in this photo. These fruits are high in fat and a great food source for birds in the winter like woodpeckers, chickadees, and titmice. Poison ivy only causes a reaction in humans and a few other primates.

Mushrooms popping up through asphalt is a bizarre but not unheard of phenomenon. Pictured here are inkcap mushrooms, a type of mushroom known for their ability to break through hard surfaces. While they are tough to begin with, these mushrooms will dissolve into a black goo within a couple days in a process called deliquescence.

Another unique mushroom that grows in the fall is the lion’s mane. Lion’s mane mushroom has gotten a lot more attention over the last few years with it being found in supplements focused on cognitive and neurological health. It is also one of the best beginner mushrooms to forage for due to their one-of-a-kind appearance. 

Who is munching on the ornamental kale found around the Visitors Center? This is the caterpillar of a cabbage white butterfly. The caterpillars do a great job of blending in with their host plants, often with the holes in the leaves being the first sign that they are there. Those with a garden growing cabbage, kale, brussels sprouts, and broccoli may run into these caterpillars.

The Bird Watching Garden is ramping up with activity. Chipmunks are busy critters this time of year collecting all the food they will need over the winter. Chipmunks aren’t true hibernators. Instead, they enter a state of torpor which is more short-term. Body temperature and metabolism are still lowered in torpor but not to the same degree. While chipmunks won’t be seen very often throughout the winter, they will make an appearance on warmer days.

This week we welcomed back white-throated sparrows to The Arboretum. White-throated sparrows spend the breeding season in the boreal forest in Canada. White-throated sparrows come in two color forms: white-striped and tan-striped. Pictured is a tan-striped individual. Look for these sparrows and other newly arriving winter birds over the next couple weeks!