It’s raining and the wind is gusting as I write. Yellow and red and brown leaves are fleeing swaying trees. Their colors are being weaved and reweaved by the wind into complex ground carpets. Yet, this is only the beginning of the end; the leaves on most trees remain green and likely won’t color up until next week.
The images here were taken yesterday before the rain, but after the plush carpets had already begun to form this week along wooded trails.
These layers of leaves play a necessary and important role in the preservation and protection of our flora and fauna. They’re homes for amphibians and hosts of macroinvertebrates that are both sources of food for birds and agents of the leaves’ decomposition. Soon, in a cycle of life, the soil will absorb nutrients from the leaves that will help feed their mother trees and other flora.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 13, 2022.)