September here this year is best remembered for its sun and clouds, especially when we received a double dose of them in our ponds.
There were a significant number of fog days, and rain days, and rainy-fog days. But, even these could be enjoyed with a little ingenuity and endurance. The much-needed days of rain and mists healed (at least temporarily) the effects of our summer drought, bringing a lushness to the woods and rejuvenating our streams from their summer dry state.
The rain was well-received by our wildlife. Juvenile Ospreys simply let themselves be soaked in the rain, waiting for the sun so that they could begin their fall migration, which starts in September for most of them.
Part of that migration included Greater Yellowleg sandpipers wading along our coast and Common Yellowthroat warblers hiding in the apple trees (look closely); both of these birds apparently were passing through on their way south from Canada.
In the meantime, our resident White-Tailed Deer started growing their thicker and darker winter coats during the month and resident American Toads and Painted Turtles made what is probably their last appearances before their long winter’s sleep.
One of the spectacular highlights of the month always is the annual September Sail-In of windjammers to the WoodenBoat School campus on Great Cove. This year, however, the coastal cruisers had to brave both fog and rain sailing in to hold a party and overnight in the Cove.
However, the next day was sunny and the windjammers were breathtaking as they sailed out of the Cove in the early morning light.
Few sailboats are windjammers, of course. Great Cove is where the WoodenBoat School’s fleet of small sailboats are “classrooms.” But, poignantly, the last sailing classes end in September and so does the summer for these smaller boats. It’s then that the process begins of taking them from the water and washing and storing them for the winter.
Not all is fun and games in the waters here. Our lobstermen (male and female) usually are busy “hauling” [lobster traps from the water] in September. But not this year. Among other problems, the prices paid to fishermen have been unrealistically low compared to expenses, causing many of them to leave their boats idle for a few days during each week. Some fisherman even closed their season in September.
However, on the fruit front, our “wild” (abandoned) Apple Trees’ crop this year seems to be a good one. September is when many people here begin to pick the wild apples and press them into cider.
There are many other fruits hanging in September here, including the Northern Mountain Ash Tree’s orange fruit and the red Crab Apples and High-Bush American Cranberries. The tomato-like hips of the Beach Rose also peak in September.
September wildflowers tend to be whites and golds, including Daisey Fleabane and Goldenrod. However, the blue fall Asters are always stand-outs.
The rains of this September made it a good month for fungi, including colorful waxycaps emerging from the soil and polypores bracketed on tree trunks.
Among the first plants to start showing fall colors in the September woods are the Cinnamon Ferns, although the leaves of a few stressed Maple Trees turned red during the month, as you see above and below. In the ponds, the Arrow Arum leaves began to yellow in September and, in the gardens, many Viburnum leaves turned scarlet.
Finally, September is the first of the fall months, when there are golden low lights to enhance an apėritif at the Brooklin Inn and magical moon risings over Great Cove.
(All images shown here were taken in Down East Maine during September 2022.)
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