Autumn in and Around Auburn

Yang and I do travel around the Northeast quite a bit to enjoy the fall colors; however, we’ve also enjoyed some striking foliage almost in our own backyard. Actually, our back, front, and side yards are turning gorgeous shades of red, yellow, orange, and maroon, but that’s material for a different blog. So, two local spots where we’ve enjoyed some leaf-appreciation are Dorothy Pond in Auburn and the forest and reservoir across from the stone church in West Boylston.

Dorothy Pond is circled by trails and is bisected by a berm of earth that once carried an older railroad. In the summer, we’d seen lots of ducks and other birds in the area, even a beaver. This day, we mostly saw the foliage, though there was this gorgeous Great Blue Heron that was too distant for a photograph. Only binoculars let us get a good look. There were lots of splashes of brilliant red amidst the green and yellow. Leaves and beautiful berries contributed scarlet – as did a male downy woodpecker who would not deign to show his face. Or maybe he was just showing off his patch of crimson feathers.

We also saw this friendly Garter Snake. The cold day made him (or her) a little sluggish, but the little critter sure had a friendly face. It was also fun, when we passed along a marsh, to see the eyes and heads of frog peeping through the fairy moss greening the waters. A great place for a morning walk in crisp autumn.

And there’s not much more pleasing to the eye than the harmony of gold, autumn green, and pure October blue.

Everyone flocks to the old stone church in West Boylston, but they often don’t realize that there’s a lovely forest across the road, displaying the other half of the reservoir and forest trails of wonderful fall colors. As you leave the parking lot, there are the gorgeous orange flames of sugar maples, even before you enter the woods.

Moving toward the forest, you can see red flaming up through the green and yellow …

… while greens give way to golds, oranges, and reds of autumn.

Even I can get into the act! But I can’t compete with autumnal glory!

Along the way, we paused to take in the soft orchid of wild asters, with a bumble bee seeking out a last pollen catch.

Now, we’re in the forest. This is the chartreuse light of an autumn trail that I tried to describe in in my WIP Shadows of a Dark Past.

How beautiful to be the one scarlet leaf amongst a thicket of green.

I was so moved by this bouquet of young maroon oak leaves. Why is it that oak leaves only seem to be this deep red when the tree is very young?

The woods were also filled with feathered fauna: Chickadees, Nuthatches, Kinglets, Yellow-Rumped Warblers. Unfortunately, the little critters moved so fast, we could never get a picture of them!