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Come back to this page each day to read another entry from Frederick R. Gehlbach's almanac of suburban natural and unnatural history, "Messages from the Wild," which chronicles the world of a forested ravine in central Texas.
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A soft, cool drizzle by night is autumnal for sure. I forget about seeing Leonid meteors this year and remember a night thirty years ago when the sky seemed to fall with Leonids. September and October followed the summer dry pattern, so the novelty of November rain stimulates a few green plants to linger, beckons the winter-proof leaves of some spring wildflowers, and signals Missouri violets to pop their seed capsules. In the rain, our overage, droopy-faced, Halloween pumpkins have a decompositional leer, as they provide food for small, decomposer animals that recycle "pumpkin pie" into forest soil. |
Frederick R. Gehlbach is Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Studies at Baylor University. His ecological studies have taken him from New Zealand to Slovakia and, in the Americas, from Alaska and Newfoundland to Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. His research interests include the life-history strategies of small owls, small burrowing snakes and urban wildlife ecology.
From MESSAGES FROM THE WILD: AN ALMANAC OF SUBURBAN NATURAL AND UNNATURAL HISTORY by Frederick R. Gehlbach, Copyright © 2002. Courtesy of the University of Texas Press.
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