Turn It Over

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It is mid October and Autumn is in session. This time of year the trails are popular as the leaves change color.

The colorful leaves on the trees and covering the ground can present an overwhelming amount of detail to your eye making it difficult to notice other details along the trail.
One thing that does stand out are the fallen trees sprouting fungi, aka mushrooms. Fungi play a key role in breaking down wood as part of the decay process. Where things really get interesting is when you turn over a large branch.
Pick a large branch that is well embedded in the moist mulch of the forest floor and gently turn it over. There you will find a whole new world of creatures which make their homes in the decaying wood including millipedes like this one here.
Northern Slimy Salamanders like this one also call these places home.
Many of the creatures you will find underneath a log tend to scatter out of sight as soon as they are exposed, which makes it difficult to photograph them. Slugs (basically snails without shells) however will calmly remain in place, seemingly oblivious to having just had their world literally upended.
I always try to be respectful of nature while out on a hike. When I have finished observing and photographing this fascinating world I carefully return the log to its original position.

One of the things I really enjoy about hiking year around is how the different seasons encourage different ways of observing nature.

Fading

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Early October and even though it still feels like summer at the Indiana Dunes with temperatures in the mid 90’s, nature knows that Autumn is here. Changes in the landscape, flora and fauna are underway.

Asters are about the only wildflowers still blooming. The few remaining pollinators like these wasps and the occasional bumblebee are mostly clustered around them.
The Asters attract the few remaining Monarch Butterflys as well. Most of them have migrated south at this point in the year.
The general lack of insects must be making it hard on the remaining Dragonflys. Not the best hunting right now, as this Ruby Meadowhawk is discovering on this fine day.
While the Orb Weavers seem to have died off, Grass Spiders seem to still be plentiful.
October is a good month for many Fungi. Although it is impossible to tell without examining the spores under a microscope, this may be one of the deadly species known as Destroying Angel. The color, size and shape are consistent with this species, the habitat is right, and they are common this time of year. But there are edible species which are visually identical, so you can not be sure.
This is the underside of a Larch Belote, another common fungi this time of year.
This is one of my favorite subjects this time of year. Milkweed pods all over the park are bursting and releasing their seeds.
Milkweed pods are the photographic gift that keeps on giving. The pods are quite durable and some never fully release their seeds. So they will be present, in ever changing form, all the way through winter and into early spring.