Sunday. P. M. — Down railroad to chestnut wood on Pine Hill.
I see a downy woodpecker tapping an apple tree, and hear, when I have passed, his sharp, metallic note.
I notice these flowers still along the railroad causeway:
There are green leaves on the ends of elder twigs; blackberry vines still red; apple trees yellow and brown and partly bare; white ash bare (nearly); golden willows yellow and brown; white birches, exposed, are nearly bare; some pines still parti-colored.
White, black, and red oaks still hold most of their leaves. What a peculiar red has the white! And some black have now a rich brown.
The Populus grandidentata near railroad, bare; the P. tremuloides, half bare.
The hickories are finely crisped, yellow, more or less browned.
Several yellow butterflies in the meadow.
And many birds flit before me along the railroad, with faint notes, too large for linarias. Can they be tree sparrows ? Some weeks. [Probably the white-in-tail [i. e. vesper sparrow, or grass finch].]
Many phenomena remind me that now is to some extent a second spring, — not only the new-springing and blossoming of flowers, but the peeping of the hylodes for some time, and the faint warbling of their spring notes by many birds.
Everywhere in the fields I see the white, hoary (ashy-colored) sceptres of the gray goldenrod. Others are slightly yellowish still. The yellow is gone out of them, as the last flake of sunshine disappears from a field when the clouds are gathering. But though their golden hue is gone, their reign is not over. Compact puffed masses of seeds ready to take wing. They will send out their ventures from hour to hour the winter through.
The Viola pedata looking up from so low in the wood-path makes a singular impression.
I go through Brooks's Hollow.
The hazels bare, only here and there a few sere, curled leaves on them.
The red cherry is bare.
The blue flag seed-vessels at Walden are bursting, — six closely packed brown rows.
October 23, 2022
A pleasant day, but breezy. I see a downy woodpecker tapping an apple tree, and hear, when I have passed, his sharp, metallic note.
I notice these flowers still along the railroad causeway:
- fresh sprouts from the root of the Solidago nemoralis in bloom,
- one or two fall dandelions,
- red clover and white,
- yarrow,
- Trifolium arvense (perhaps not fresh),
- one small blue snapdragon,
- fresh tansy in bloom on the sunny sand bank.
There are green leaves on the ends of elder twigs; blackberry vines still red; apple trees yellow and brown and partly bare; white ash bare (nearly); golden willows yellow and brown; white birches, exposed, are nearly bare; some pines still parti-colored.
White, black, and red oaks still hold most of their leaves. What a peculiar red has the white! And some black have now a rich brown.
The Populus grandidentata near railroad, bare; the P. tremuloides, half bare.
The hickories are finely crisped, yellow, more or less browned.
Several yellow butterflies in the meadow.
And many birds flit before me along the railroad, with faint notes, too large for linarias. Can they be tree sparrows ? Some weeks. [Probably the white-in-tail [i. e. vesper sparrow, or grass finch].]
Many phenomena remind me that now is to some extent a second spring, — not only the new-springing and blossoming of flowers, but the peeping of the hylodes for some time, and the faint warbling of their spring notes by many birds.
Everywhere in the fields I see the white, hoary (ashy-colored) sceptres of the gray goldenrod. Others are slightly yellowish still. The yellow is gone out of them, as the last flake of sunshine disappears from a field when the clouds are gathering. But though their golden hue is gone, their reign is not over. Compact puffed masses of seeds ready to take wing. They will send out their ventures from hour to hour the winter through.
The Viola pedata looking up from so low in the wood-path makes a singular impression.
I go through Brooks's Hollow.
The hazels bare, only here and there a few sere, curled leaves on them.
The red cherry is bare.
The blue flag seed-vessels at Walden are bursting, — six closely packed brown rows.
I find my clothes all bristling as with a chevaux-de-frise of beggar-ticks, which hold on for many days. A storm of arrows these weeds have showered on me, as I went through their moats. How irksome the task to rid one's self of them! We are fain to let some adhere. Through thick and thin I wear some; hold on many days. In an instant a thousand seeds of the bidens fastened themselves firmly to my clothes, and I carried them for miles, planting one here and another there. They are as thick on my clothes as the teeth of a comb.
The prinos is bare, leaving red berries.
The pond has gone down suddenly and surprisingly since I was here last, and this pool is left, cut off at a higher level, stagnant and drying up. This is its first decided going down since its going up a year or two ago.
The red-looking water purslane is left bare, and the water-target leaves are turned brown and drying up on the bare mud.
The clethra partly bare, crisped, yellowish and brown, with its fruit with persistent styles (?) in long racemes.
Here are dense fields of light-colored rattlesnake grass drooping with the weight of their seeds.
The high blueberries about the pond have still a few leaves left on, turned bright scarlet red. These it is adorn the shore so, seen at a distance, small but very bright.
The panicled andromeda is thinly clad with yellow and brown leaves, not sere.
Alders are green.
Smooth sumach bare.
Chestnuts commonly bare.
I now notice the round red buds of the high blueberry.
The blue-stemmed, and also the white, solidago on Walden bank.
Small sassafras trees bare.
The Aster undulatus is still quite abundant and fresh on this high, sunny bank, — far more so than the Solidago coesia, — and methinks it is the latest of our asters and is besides the most common or conspicuous flower now. It is in large, dense masses, two or three feet high, pale purple or whitish, and covered with humble- bees. The radical leaves, now hearted and crenatish, are lake beneath.
Also a hieracium quite freshly bloomed, but with white, bristly leaves and smooth stem, about twenty-flowered; peduncles and involucres glandular-hairy. Is it Gronovii or veiny-leaved? Almost as slender as the panicled. (In press.)
No gerardias.
Strawberries are red and green.
It is the season of fuzzy seeds, — goldenrods, everlasting, senecio, asters, epilobium, etc., etc.
Viburnum Lentago, with ripe berries and dull-glossy red leaves; young black cherry, fresh green or yellow; mayweed.
The chestnuts have mostly fallen.
One Diplopappus linariifolius in bloom, its leaves all yellow or red.
This and A. undulatus the asters seen to-day.
The red oak now red, perhaps inclining to scarlet; the white, with that peculiar ingrained redness; the shrub oak, a clear thick leather-color; some dry black oak, darker brown; chestnut, light brown; hickory, yellow, turning brown. These the colors of some leaves I brought home.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, October 23, 1853
The Populus grandidentata near railroad, bare; the P. tremuloides, half bare. See October 21, 1858 ("The Populus grandidentata is quite yellow and leafy yet. "); October 25, 1858 ("Aspens (tremuliformis) generally bare. ")
Is it Gronovii or veiny-leaved? See note to July 17, 1853 ("I think we have no Hieracium Gronoviis")
The prinos is bare, leaving red berries.
The pond has gone down suddenly and surprisingly since I was here last, and this pool is left, cut off at a higher level, stagnant and drying up. This is its first decided going down since its going up a year or two ago.
The red-looking water purslane is left bare, and the water-target leaves are turned brown and drying up on the bare mud.
The clethra partly bare, crisped, yellowish and brown, with its fruit with persistent styles (?) in long racemes.
Here are dense fields of light-colored rattlesnake grass drooping with the weight of their seeds.
The high blueberries about the pond have still a few leaves left on, turned bright scarlet red. These it is adorn the shore so, seen at a distance, small but very bright.
The panicled andromeda is thinly clad with yellow and brown leaves, not sere.
Alders are green.
Smooth sumach bare.
Chestnuts commonly bare.
I now notice the round red buds of the high blueberry.
The blue-stemmed, and also the white, solidago on Walden bank.
Small sassafras trees bare.
The Aster undulatus is still quite abundant and fresh on this high, sunny bank, — far more so than the Solidago coesia, — and methinks it is the latest of our asters and is besides the most common or conspicuous flower now. It is in large, dense masses, two or three feet high, pale purple or whitish, and covered with humble- bees. The radical leaves, now hearted and crenatish, are lake beneath.
Also a hieracium quite freshly bloomed, but with white, bristly leaves and smooth stem, about twenty-flowered; peduncles and involucres glandular-hairy. Is it Gronovii or veiny-leaved? Almost as slender as the panicled. (In press.)
No gerardias.
Strawberries are red and green.
It is the season of fuzzy seeds, — goldenrods, everlasting, senecio, asters, epilobium, etc., etc.
Viburnum Lentago, with ripe berries and dull-glossy red leaves; young black cherry, fresh green or yellow; mayweed.
The chestnuts have mostly fallen.
One Diplopappus linariifolius in bloom, its leaves all yellow or red.
This and A. undulatus the asters seen to-day.
The red oak now red, perhaps inclining to scarlet; the white, with that peculiar ingrained redness; the shrub oak, a clear thick leather-color; some dry black oak, darker brown; chestnut, light brown; hickory, yellow, turning brown. These the colors of some leaves I brought home.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, October 23, 1853
I see a downy woodpecker tapping an apple tree, and hear, when I have passed, his sharp, metallic note. See October 23, 1855 ("A downy woodpecker on an apple tree utters a sharp, shrill, rapid tea te t, t, t, t t t t t. "); December 5, 1853 ("See and hear a downy woodpecker on an apple tree. Have not many winter birds, like this and the chickadee, a sharp note like tinkling glass or icicles?") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Downy Woodpecker
The Viola pedata looking up from so low in the wood-path makes a singular impression. See October 22, 1859 (" In the wood-path below the Cliffs I see perfectly fresh and fair Viola pedata flowers, as in the spring, though but few together. No flower by its second blooming more perfectly brings back the spring to us")
Is it Gronovii or veiny-leaved? See note to July 17, 1853 ("I think we have no Hieracium Gronoviis")
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