One of our favourite fall walks is the 3.3 km loop trail around the Mill Pond in Dorchester. Because the leaves have started to fall and the trees will soon be bare, we found time to make a quick circuit of the pond to take in the colours.
We started near the south end of the pond. The trail leads to a boardwalk through the marsh. So late in the season, the only birds we heard in the woods were Blue Jays and Black-capped Chickadees.
The only birds on the water were Mallards and Canada Geese.
An Autumn Meadowhawk landed on the railing of the boardwalk, warming itself in the sun.
The narrow trail continues around the pond,
Much, but not all of the colour is provided by the scarlet, russet and bronze of oak leaves.
The trail widens as it move through woods populated by Eastern White Pines.
Views from the dam at the north end of the pond and from the path along the western shore.
The path travels through local park space before reentering the woods and past final views across the pond.
Correction
In a recent post, we identified these as the leaves of a Silver Maple. On reflection, we can see that they are the leaves of a Freeman’s Maple. This is a hybrid between Silver and Red Maple trees and is commonly planted in parks and on city streets. The leaves of the Freeman’s Maple resemble those of the Silver Maple, but are not as deeply cut. Silver Maples do sometime turn red in the fall, but are more likely to turn yellow. Freeman’s, like Red Maples more reliably turn red in the fall.
Academy Award Nominations 1980s
While trying to build a playlist of songs from the 1980s, I found that many of them were used in movies. So why not just feature movie songs that won or were nominated?