October is a Unique Month

     October is a unique month in Pennsylvania, and surrounding states.  There is no other time of year like it in this area.  It is the peak time of dying, colored deciduous leaves and other preparations for the coming winter.  October is the only month, locally, with so much beautiful leaf color, which is inspiring to many people, some of which go out of their way, including me, to see it.  That brilliant leaf color is particularly striking on crisp, sunny days with blue skies and cold wind out of the north.
     Pennsylvania looks like winter in November, December, January, February and March and like summer during May, June, July, August and September.  Leaves begin growing and the landscape turns green in April, but only October has an abundance of warmly-colored leaves.
     It's been said that Pennsylvania has more leaf color in October than any other place on Earth.  The right latitude, climate and soil combine for the best growth of deciduous trees, hence an overwhelming abundance of beautiful, inspiring colored foliage in October.
     Shortening daylight each succeeding day and cooler average temperatures in October prompt deciduous trees to shut off water to their leaves, which kills them.  As the leaves die, so does their green chlorophyll, allowing the other colors, that were always there, to be visible to us.
     But October is also the time of continuing south-bound migrations of the bird species that nested in Pennsylvania, including thrushes, flycatchers and warblers, and the return of birds that will spend the winter here, such as white-throated sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, dark-eyed juncos and yellow-bellied sapsuckers, for examples..  This is also the time of elk in Pennsylvania ending their rut while white-tailed deer are just beginning theirs.  Wood chucks and black bears are putting on layers of fat now while blue jays, eastern chipmunks and squirrels hide some of the abundance of nuts, grain and weed seeds in the soil or tree cavities to be eaten in winter.  
      Never is nature more beautiful or as bountiful as in October in Pennsylvania.  Most harvests are in by the end of the month, except some pumpkin and soybean fields.  Some fields of corn stalks are tied into many corn shocks in those fields where their pyramid shapes resemble Native American tepees.  There the corn will be stored through much of winter.  And there skunks, cottontail rabbits and other creatures will find shelter in the otherwise open fields.  Never are the wild and pretty nuts, seeds and berries so plentiful for a variety of wildlife to eat through winter, including black bears, deer, a variety of rodents and several kinds of birds, than during this lovely month.   
     Late in October and into early November, wind roaring through the trees and rain combine to knock deciduous leaves off the trees.  That foliage floats down on the wind like a storm of large, red and yellow snow flakes that pile on the ground like snow does, burying the soil and providing insulation and shelter for many kinds of small plants and animals.  When those leaves dry, they are crispy under foot.  And eventually those dead leaves decay, enriching the soil they fell on.  Now most of the deciduous trees are bare and the look of winter is upon the landscape.     
     October is a unique month in Pennsylvania.  It has beauties and intrigues all its own.