In past columns I’ve indicated that fall and spring are my two favorite seasons. Spring brings with it a rush of birds bedecked in their breeding plumages, budding trees, beautiful spring flowers and an abundance of rain sustaining the stream and pond wildlife. New birds arrive daily.

But, fall is hard to top as well. After months of high humidity and temperatures, too many gnats and mosquitoes, and my allergies, fall creeps in with cooler nights and crisp autumn days.

It is also hard to beat the brilliant landscapes provided by the variety of leaf colors. A walk in an October forest also provides a certain smell that I can’t produce for you in print, but I’m sure you, too, are familiar with that.

As you and I take our nature treks through a forest or woodlot, the forest floor, once covered in dense green mats of ferns, is now a golden color as the chlorophyll slowly dies in the fronds.

September rains have dampened the forests, and a variety of mushrooms and puffballs can be found. As the leaves fall, once hidden squirrel and bird nests are exposed, and rays of sunlight now can reach the ground, adding even more to the forest floor’s beauty.

However, I am amazed at how nature has provided (unintentionally) an abundance of food for wildlife. The red, chestnut, scarlet and white oaks begin dropping their acorns, and unless you intentionally looked into the tree tops, their growth went almost unnoticed until they began to fall.

Gray and red squirrels and blue jays don’t even wait until the acorns fall. By mid-September, they are busy cutting them down to either eat immediately or cache them away for the winter. Those that make it to the forest floor are gobbled up by turkeys, deer, bear and chipmunks. When a good white oak acorn crop occurs, it is crucial to help deer put on extra fat for the lean winter months.

Chipmunks stuff their cheek pouches in a rush to stash them away. A gray squirrel grabs an acorn, carefully digs a little hole, and neatly buries it for later. While taking a winter walk, snow cover reveals little leaf piles on the surface where somehow, the squirrel remembers and uncovers those acorns buried in October.

Acorns aren’t the only thing in abundance. Black walnut trees begin losing their foliage in early September, and the now baring branches reveal hundreds of the “green tennis ball-like” walnuts. Squirrels again gather and cache away all that they can.

Fox grapes ripen now, and migrating robins, turkeys and jays feast on them. Dogwoods produce their red fruits, products of those beautiful white spring flowers. Although now considered an invasive plant, autumn/Russian olives are covered with BB-size fruits. In my favorite nature area, dozens of autumn olives have been fattening 50 to 75 robins since late September, along with a few catbirds. Witch hazel is just flowering now, and birds and squirrels gobble up the delicate yellow flowers. Nature has provided for those animals by simply making more than enough seeds to ensure their future survival. Luckily, for our wildlife, nature can be generous.

Nature Hint: On Oct. 13 in the predawn hours, I listened to a pair of great horned owls serenade each other for about 15 minutes. If you live close to a woodlot or forested area, step outside a half-hour or more before sunrise and listen for the WHO, WHO, WHO … WHO, WHO as they begin pair bonding.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: If a wren visits your feeders and suet a week before Christmas, it is most likely a _____ wren. A. house, B. Carolina, C. winter, D. marsh.

Last Week’s Trivia: When a peregrine makes a dive, it is called a stoop.

Contact Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com.