First week of autumn

Fall in the Adirondacks often feels to have begun long before its calendar arrival. But this year, summer weather carried well into September, and the cooling days and nights last week coincided well with the Wednesday equinox and the official turning of the season.

While foliage may lack some of the late-September color of years past, a reddening of the hardwoods is now taking place. With a strong apple crop, we’ve seen our white-tailed neighbors putting on their winter weight, while the loons and passing geese have started to sing their final songs.

The first weekend of autumn ended with earth’s celestial companion doing its best impression of a maple leaf as an orange-tinted blood moon rose above the horizon and soon after underwent a total lunar eclipse.

Here are some of the sights from the first five days of fall on and around Osgood Pond.

Resting on a bed of floating pine needles, this mink frog takes in some late fall sun. Thanks to Brian McAllister for the identification help!

While there’s still plenty of green in the woods, color has begun to descend on the Park.

Riding the thermals, this bald eagle never descended low enough for a close-up photo, but it was the first we’d seen in some time over Osgood Pond.

A gaggle of geese take a break from their migration south on nearby Jones Pond.

Looking out over Osgood Pond on the first day of autumn.

Eclipse of the blood moon, shot right from a yurt deck.