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Posted on April 13, 2022 by The Art of Ecology

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Marissa Jacobs | NatGeo Certified Educator | Photographer
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There are so many valuable seeds and fruits still available for birds to eat! Not only do many insects over winter in old grasses and leaves, but birds also rely on these seeds high in oils (good fats!) and proteins to help keep them warm and survive through torpor, or a temporary sort of "hibernation" during the cold winter months. Seeds from rudbeckia, docks, goldenrod, asters, and grasses are super important, and fruits still cling to crabapple, sumac, and some dogwoods. So let's leave off on the fall garden clean up - wait until insect emergence in the spring to tidy up!
Swipe for a better look at what the Velocitoddler is checking out!
We saw all 15 of these mushrooms in the span of 20 minute walk along a mulch lined trail in the woods. The amount of color, sizes, and shapes were astounding and each one has a special role to fill in the woodland ecosystem. Most are saprobes, meaning that they digest already dead organic matter, like mulch, leaf litter, and old logs. Typically, if a mushroom is on the ground, it is a saprobe, while fungi that grow on living trees are parasitic.
We are at peak fall color right now and it's the perfect time for leaf peeping! I love all of the stunning oranges, reds, and yellows that appear this time of year, but did you know that these pigments have been there ever since the leaf burst into the world in the spring?! The chlorophyll, or that green pigment, outcompetes the rest of the pigments visually, since there needs to be a lot of it to undergo the process of photosynthesis. The other pigments are still important, and help to keep the tree healthy, but they just aren't as saturated. When the tree reabsorbs the chlorophyll components in the fall, we can finally see the other colors underneath!
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