Fallen leaves create important ground cover for many insects and overwintering critters, insulate the trees from the cold and grow many fungi, such as these tiny oak-leaf pinwheel mushrooms.

“I’ve run across several deer rubbing spots in area woods, and this heart-shaped rub pretty much says it all when it comes to the intentions of the rutting season,” Ken Lassman writes in this week’s Kaw Valley Almanac.

The fading sunset seems to be turning these big bluestem seedheads into silhouettes, squeezing the coppers, reds and yellow fall grass colors directly into the sky. Morning and evening walks reward the walker with a wide range of colors.