Kaw Valley Almanac

This squirrel is giving thanks to one of the hedge trees that has provided a bounteous supply of hedge apples this year.

A cottonwood tree is silhouetted in front of the incredible Northern Lights that graced the Kansas skies on Nov. 11. The pink, green and red bands are from oxygen atoms, excited at different altitudes.

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.

This has been a dry fall, with more muted leaf colors. Rain will brighten some, but many leaves are drying up, limiting further development.

This has been a dry fall, with more muted leaf colors. Rain will brighten some, but many leaves are drying up, limiting further development.

This sun pillar phenomenon is caused by flat ice crystals in the air reflecting light from the sun. This is much more common during colder months, but these high clouds had to be pretty cold despite the heat at the ground.

Monday is the first day of fall, and sumac lower leaves have turned red for a while, along with some virginia creeper vines, to name a few. It’s increasingly common to see blackbird flocks around sunset, yellowing cottonwood leaves and foggy mornings when it’s calm.

Monday is the first day of fall, and sumac lower leaves have turned red for a while, along with some virginia creeper vines, to name a few. It’s increasingly common to see blackbird flocks around sunset, yellowing cottonwood leaves and foggy mornings when it’s calm.

With the old Osage name for August — Yellow Flower Moon — named for the many goldenrods and sunflower tribe blooming, it’s now a more appropriate name for September due to the longer growing season.

A pair of yellow soldier beetles and a nearby yellow cucumber beetle blend into the blossoms of a sawtooth sunflower.

This Pearl Crescent butterfly was blending in nicely to the yellow ray flowers of the sweet coneflower. This time of year, you can find many insects and spiders colored similar to the flowers they hang out on, either to hide from predators, or hide as predators.

Controlled summer burns are hotter and more effective in pushing back woody plants from prairie remnants.

Big bluestem has seeded out and is pollinating. Their seedheads can be taller than a person, and is also known by the name “turkey foot” due to the resemblance to the footprint of a turkey.