NOVEMBER Animals store food and energy for winter Though the days are shorter, there is a lot of light. Sunlight reaches the forest floor, where evergreen plants happily absorb it. The open skies often fill with geese, gathering as they prepare to head south. Bare branches reveal where birds made their nests. The American beech’s bark is smooth and pale gray but often damaged by beech bark disease. Tiny scale insects dig through the thin bark for sap. Then a fungus moves in, warping the bark. Carpenter ants and other fungi follow, until the softening trunk gives in and snaps. Beechnuts split open and fall after the first hard frost. They are irresistible to wild turkeys, gray jays, and squirrels, and they once sustained enormous flocks of passenger pigeons. Beech’s yellow autumn leaves are fading to tan. Look for its unique terminal buds, like pointed little thorns with scales. The crumpled, paper-thin leaves will hang on all winter, a bit of rustling color in the snowy woods." -Kateri Kosek from The Forest Revealed
November posters and autographed copies of the book are available in my ETSY SHOP now.