Fall is in the air and the weatherman says we should get our first freezing night tonight and tomorrow will be our first truly cold day. This will speed up the changing of leaves to bright reds, oranges, and yellows. Very exciting. This past weekend, we got a preview, finding a few dogwoods turned red in the watershed of Big Thompson Creek, 15 minutes from downtown Quincy. We continued on down the LaPorte Road to the Middle Fork of the Feather River and found lots of Bigleaf Maple and the nice reflection scene shown here. I contribute a lot of photos to the nature blogs at the Plumas Visitors Bureau. The current one, called Leaf Peepers, emphasizes fall colors, and the springtime blog emphasizes wildflowers and is called Bloom Blog. If you live in this area, or if you visit, check out these blogs, then get out there with your camera and make a contribution. I find my camera gives me incentive to pay closer attention. Then I notice special little details like this "crown" at the top of a horsetail stem (top). Posted by Joe Willis at 5:51 PM No comments: I need to get back to this blog. I've been contributing to blogs at the Plumas Visitors Bureau website, but ignoring my own. More pics and recent news will come tomorrow. Promise! Joe
[null, null, null, null, null, null, {"document_url": "http://blackoaknaturalist.blogspot.com/2009/09/", "unformatted_src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YIWMBAc4Yn8/SsKubbWQRdI/AAAAAAAAAF4/R5PSMLw7T-g/s320/Guess+what%21.JPG", "src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YIWMBAc4Yn8/SsKubbWQRdI/AAAAAAAAAF4/R5PSMLw7T-g/s320/Guess+what%21.JPG", "formatted_filename": "Guess what"}, {"document_url": "http://blackoaknaturalist.blogspot.com/2009/09/", "unformatted_src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YIWMBAc4Yn8/SsKsk4ZK09I/AAAAAAAAAFw/xwQTgBzvc9A/s200/Reflection.JPG", "src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YIWMBAc4Yn8/SsKsk4ZK09I/AAAAAAAAAFw/xwQTgBzvc9A/s200/Reflection.JPG", "formatted_filename": "Reflection"}, null, {"document_url": "http://blackoaknaturalist.blogspot.com/2009/09/", "unformatted_src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YIWMBAc4Yn8/SsKsPjw_15I/AAAAAAAAAFo/Upk1ba8iDNI/s200/Bigleaf+maple.JPG", "src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YIWMBAc4Yn8/SsKsPjw_15I/AAAAAAAAAFo/Upk1ba8iDNI/s200/Bigleaf+maple.JPG", "formatted_filename": "Bigleaf maple"}, {"document_url": "http://blackoaknaturalist.blogspot.com/2009/09/", "unformatted_src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YIWMBAc4Yn8/SsKr5g90f2I/AAAAAAAAAFg/1L-lw_yR8r8/s200/California+dogwood.JPG", "src": "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YIWMBAc4Yn8/SsKr5g90f2I/AAAAAAAAAFg/1L-lw_yR8r8/s200/California+dogwood.JPG", "formatted_filename": "California dogwood"}, null, null, null]