In a nutshell, Indian summer is a warm spell that follows cold weather. Since we saw several below freezing nights in October and then temperatures in the 70s F for the first week of November, I’d say that we saw Indian summer. Some of the flowers thought so too, like the aster pictured above.
This explanation of where the term Indian Summer originated is from the Old Farmer’s Almanac: “Early settlers would welcome the arrival of cold wintry weather in late October when they could leave their stockades unarmed. But then came a time when it would suddenly turn warm again, and the Native Americans would decide to have one more go at the settlers. “Indian summer,” the settlers called it.”
A very strange thing happened on Friday, November 6th; as if someone flipped a switch somewhere, almost all the leaves fell from the oak trees, all at once and in one day, as if it were a leaf avalanche or a leaf waterfall. People wrote me from Vermont saying the same thing happened there and I’ve heard several people, including old timers, say that they’ve never seen anything like it. If you know oak trees at all you’re probably as baffled by this behavior as the rest of us because here in New England many oak trees don’t lose their leaves until winter is well under way, and some hang on until spring. It’s one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen nature do and I don’t have any idea what might have caused it. Did the same thing happen in your area too, I wonder?
Goldenrod (Solidago) still blooms be sparsely, here and there.
This could very well be the last red clover blossom (Trifolium pretense) that I see until spring.
This forsythia thought that spring had already arrived. I wonder what it will do when spring really does come. It would be too bad if the cheery yellow blossoms didn’t shout that spring had arrived, but I’m grateful for the taste of spring that this plant gave me in November.
A lady bug landed on my pant leg and stayed for a while before flying off. She didn’t say what she was looking for but I was surprised to see here so late in the year.
A slug was either sleeping or browsing on a moss, fungi, and lichen covered log. I just realized that I have no idea what slugs do in the winter.
There are still plenty of fungi appearing. These examples were blushing a blueish lavender color. I don’t know if they were blueish lavender aging to gray or if it was the other way around, so I haven’t been able to identify them.
A wild turkey lost a feather in the woods recently. You can see an acorn or two poking out of the forest litter and it makes sense that the feather would be among them because turkeys love acorns. This is one bird that flies with a lot of historical baggage; Native Americans first domesticated wild turkeys around 800 B.C. and raised them for their feathers. It wasn’t until 1100 A.D., almost 2000 years later, that they started eating them. It is thought that only the Aztec turkey breed survived into the present day. The turkeys we eat today could very well be descendants of those same turkeys that the Aztecs raised, and wouldn’t that be amazing? A history nut could almost overload on information like that.
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, with a 4 foot wingspan red tailed hawks are one of the largest and also one of the most common birds that we see here. This one had caught something but I couldn’t see what it was. All I had with me was my small Panasonic Lumix camera that I use for macro photos and this bird was really too far away for a good photo, but I tried anyway. It came out very soft but at least you can see the beautiful hawk, which is something you don’t see very often on this blog.
I don’t know if it was a hawk, bobcat, or another predator, but something took the squirrel and left the tail. New Hampshire’s gray squirrel population is thriving this year because an abundance of food in the forests and predators are very happy about that.
I know a place where hundreds of burning bushes (Euonymus alatus) grow and I visit there in the fall because seeing them all turn a soft shade of pastel pink at once is a beautiful sight. This year for some reason they decided on yellow-orange instead of pink but still, even with the unexpected color they were enough to make me stop and just admire them for a few moments. Even though they’re terribly invasive it’s hard to hate a shrub that delights the eye as much as this one does.
I wonder sometimes if every leaf changes color at least a little in the fall. These yellow ones are young examples of Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota.)
Isn’t it interesting how the path to the coldest season is strewn with the warmest colors?
What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness? ~John Steinbeck
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions 
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What a strange thing about the oak trees. Ours still have some of their leaves so it didn’t happen here but we have had unseasonably warm weather (unfortunately wet and windy too) and a fair few strange things are flowering.
That was strange and it seems to have happened all over New England.
Interesting post as always, thank you! Our deciduous forest is naked here too; I have been walking through a sea of oak leaves in what seems like a brand new landscape. There is always something new to see though, isn’t there. Today I saw orange-fruited horse gentian and purple jellydisc. I have been photographing fungi, but none of them seem to match the photos in the guide!?
Thank you Cathy. There is indeed always something new to see and I hope more people will get outside to see them.
I’ve never seen either orange-fruited horse gentian or purple jellydisc, so you had a great day!
Many fungi are very hard to identify because they change color as they age and some even change their shape. I only know a handful of them and I’ve been looking at them for years. Don’t give up though, it can be done.
These are really a great series of photographs ~ very diverse and makes me wonder of the many different views nature can show.
Thanks very much!
Very interesting post. I wish we were having an Indian Summer here, instead it is a typical south west UK wet autumn (moan, moan)!
Thank you Philip. You do seem to get more than your share of wet weather there, but I suppose all the plants and animals are acclimated to it so stopping it now probably wouldn’t be good. I think I’d moan too though if it was that wet here.
Wonderful fall colors, even though we are past the peak. A friend’s witch hazel bush is in full bloom right now. I asked if it would bloom again in spring but she said no, it has done this for several years now, blooming in the fall. A very confused bush indeed! Love the hawk shot!!
Thanks Martha. Actually our native witch hazels are supposed to bloom in the fall. Those that bloom in spring are vernal witch hazels that are native to the Ozarks and don’t reach this far north. Sometimes you also see Chinese or Japanese witch hazels blooming in the spring in parks.
Thank you! I will pick some for the Thanksgiving table this year. I didn’t know they were supposed to do that!!
Too bad I was away to miss the one-day drop of all the oak leaves. Sounds like it was a bit of a “perfect storm”. I read a very interesting article that you might like on the history or rather globalization of the domestic turkey and how it got its many names here: http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21636598-birds-many-names-speak-early-globalisation-and-confusion-flight
It seems like it was one of those once in a lifetime things, and very strange.
That’s a great article on the turkey. I’ll have to quote it next time I do a post with a turkey entry in it. Thanks!
Regarding predators being “happy” about the increased grey squirrel population, how do you know that? Have you talked with any predator? haha
I was talking to a porcupine this morning in Walpole but no, I haven’t spoken with any predators lately. I just assumed, since the NH Fish and Game website says that the squirrel population is high, that predators probably had full bellies. A good meal always makes me happy so I’m guessing that they probably are too.
One up side of the oaks shedding their leaves means I can get my spring leaf clean-up done now! The bumper crop of apples and other nuts and berries and the wonderful show of colors this year really highlights the changes in the weather this year. It is supposed to get pretty cold at night next week, so you probably won’t be seeing too many more blooms. The hawk is quite wonderful. Hope you get to photograph him/her again. Great post!!
Thanks Laura! That’s just what I have in mind for this afternoon after I go hill climbing.
It’s been a very beautiful fall but flurries yesterday told me I’d better get a move on. I’m still seeing an occasional flower but I don’t think that’s going to last past this week.
I hope I see that hawk again too. It’s a beautiful bird and doesn’t seem to mind posing.
You can actually stow your rakes away with full applause from scientists who provide their reasoning for why it is best to let fallen leaves lie. http://www.inquisitr.com/2533516/scientists-urge-dont-rake-your-leaves-heres-why/
Thanks Pat. I agree with everything in the article but unfortunately until we get over this lawn fetish I fear few will listen.
Very pretty stuff, but soon you will have a lot of white in your photos! And that will be beautiful too.
Thanks Montucky! I think you hit that nail on the head. We had snow up north yesterday and I saw flurries here. It is beautiful but oh, the back!
It was amazing how in the space of about 4 hours on that morning all the oaks dropped their leaves here in western MA, too. Crazy, but I got some great leaf fall pics out of the spectacle (check my last post). It was an amazing and thrilling sight. We live pretty close, so your posts reflect similar things, right down to the stray clover and solidago blossom. 🙂
You got some great shots and as I just said on your blog, I wish I’d thought of that!
That was amazing how they all fell so quickly. We didn’t have strong winds here but we did have a breeze and a couple of gusts; nothing that would normally strip an oak.
Judging by the comments this seems to be a localized New England event.
Perhaps it was the warmth of early fall, followed by very cold for a week, then warmth again. The weather has been rather up and down. But the all-at-once is pretty unusual to say the least.
Yes, that could be. It seems like unusual weather could confuse plants occasionally. I know that it does fool them into blooming early, so why not leaf drop?
I was going to comment here this morning, until I got to the part about the oaks losing their leaves, I waited until after my walk instead. From what I saw around here, the oaks in the apartment complex still have almost all of their leaves, but the oaks in the regular wooded areas have lost almost all of theirs. I’m going to assume that it has to do with the rainfall patterns this year because of that. The oaks in the complex get the added water from the lawn sprinkling system, whereas the naturally growing oaks don’t.
I’m not sure about that though, the water table here is quite close to the surface, and as deep as oaks send their roots, they should have all the water that they need, and they never looked stressed during the short dry spells that we had. We didn’t have any unusual or extended dry spells either. I may have to investigate further. 😉 One thing is certain, it is unusual for the oaks to lose their leaves this early. We had two days of fierce winds, but that’s not unusual weather here in the fall either. Mariners have long talked about the gales of November on the Great Lakes, and it was one of those that caused the Edmund Fitzgerald to sink 40 years ago.
Anyway, great post! You’ve really gotten me thinking with this one, not only about the oaks but many of the other things that you included, such as where do slugs go in the winter. I would think underground, but I’m not sure about that. But, it brings up a related question, where do insects such as water striders go in the winter?
Thanks Jerry! I’m glad I could make people think with this post. Nature brings so many questions to those willing to look and think, just a little. I should have known something was going on with the oaks when they displayed such amazing colors that I’ve never seen them with. I’m sure you must be right about the weather and rainfall having at least something to do with it. We were much drier than normal this summer but we had no strong wind on the day the leaves dropped.
Clare sent me an interesting link on slugs that says that about 95% of slugs are underground at any given time, so that’s a great guess on your part.
I can’t even guess where the insects go but if I had wings it would be to someplace just a little warmer!
I have a link here about slugs which you may find interesting.
http://www.slugoff.co.uk/slug-facts/facts .Our oak trees are behaving as usual though the leaves changed colour and started dropping from the trees a little earlier than the norm. How odd that yours all lost their leaves on the 6th! Congratulations on the photograph of the red-tailed hawk!
Thank you Clare. After reading the slug information I doubt that gardeners will ever conquer slugs! But I’m sure they’ll keep trying.
It is odd that the oaks lost their leaves like that, and right after they displayed the most gorgeous colors that they’ve shown in years.
I’ve seen that hawk several times since I took that photo and I hope to have a bigger camera with me when I see him again.
I think slugs are here to stay! I hope you manage to get another chance to photograph the hawk.
Thanks, I hope so too!
Interesting oak tree behaviour. Was the contrast between the cold snap and the warm larger than usual?
No, that’s the strangest thing about it. Nothing was out of the ordinary weather wise, and there wasn’t even much of a wind.
Our oaks are hanging on valiantly in the face of strong wind and heavy rain but we haven’t had a frost yet.
We’ve had several freezes and then warmth in the 70s, so that might have confused them. It sounds like your oaks are doing what oaks normally do.
an array of awesomeness!
Thanks! I’m glad you liked it.
Amazing catch of that red-tailed hawk!
Thanks! You don’t see many hawks on the ground like that but I’ve seen this one that way several times. I think he’s catching chipmunks.
Love your late autumn photo series…The world is full of such beauty when we take the time to really stop and look.
Thank you Charlie. I agree, the only reason many people don’t see these things is because they simply walk too fast.
Thanks for the explanation of ‘Indian Summer’. I didn’t realise it was an American expression. Lots of lovely pictures to marvel at, thank you so much.
You’re welcome and thank you Susan. I’m not really sure that Indian Summer is strictly an American term but the folks at the Old Farmer’s Almanac offered that explanation and it was better than any of the others I’ve heard. The Old Farmer’s Almanac is a local publication that has been around since 1792.
We are having an Indian summer over here too. The plants are getting quite mixed up with spring flowers popping together with winter ones coming earlier than usual. Amelia
Thank you Amelia. It will be interesting to see what your spring flowers do in spring. They usually recover and do fine.
My oak leaves all came down too. The beech leaves that usually stay on the trees also came down! I’m sorry they did because they always made a pretty picture against the snow in winter. One friend speculated that the trees might have thought spring had arrived and they pushed off their old leaves to let the buds start to emerge. I’m not enough of a botanist to know. — As for a warmer winter, I get concerned when I hear such forecasts because it is a lot harder to deal with ice than snow — and ice can do more damage too.
Thank you Pat for the information on your oaks. Whatever caused it seems to have covered quite a large area.
I’ve noticed that a lot of our beech leaves have fallen too but I don’t know if they did on that particular day like the oaks did.
I agree about the ice. We don’t need any ice storms! I still remember one quite a few years ago that knocked out power for over a week in some places. It was a terrible time.
Yes, I live in one of those places that lost power for a week. And last year ice and snow bent my birches to the ground several times. Some never recovered.
We had a lot of bent birches here too. February was a tough month last year!
Interesting collection of finds. I don’t know if I could find that many in bloom here.
Thank you. There are still a few here and there but nowhere near the numbers of a month ago.
Here in New Jersey, the oaks kept their leaves through the 6th. They are about 2/3 gone now, thanks to a very strong wind over the last day or so. But the young ones still have all their leaves. So it must have been a New England thing.
Our forsythias also rebloomed; they do most years here. I’ve never noticed a difference in blossoms in spring between the reblooming ones and the non-rebloomers, so I think yours will be fine. I’ve also seen azalea, quince and violet blossoms this fall; the warm weather tricked a lot of plants.
That ladybug is a MALB (multicolored Asian lady beetle) and will likely spend the winter in some building. They are the last to fly each year.
I don’t know whether slugs do any form of hibernation, but I do know they like to mate in near-freezing weather (or even colder) at night. I often see them at it in winter by my driveway lights.
I’ve never found a turkey feather; my kids would love to see one. I’ve also never seen Queen Anne’s lace turn yellow; it’s very pretty. The burning bushes by me seemed to be much more yellow/white than hot pink (though still a fair amount pink) here, too, this year.
Thank you Sara. That’s interesting that your oaks acted differently. I still wonder what happened to ours.
I’ve seen many shrubs and flowers re-bloom but I can’t remember ever seeing a forsythia do it.
The Asian beetles must be the ones that gather all over houses in large numbers sometimes in the fall.
I’ve never seen a slug in the winter!
I don’t see very many turkey feathers but I’m not sure why. I guess they just don’t lose them as often as other birds.
I saw a few more yellow Queen Anne’s lace leaves this morning and noticed that all the leaves are gone from the burning bushes. I think it got too cold before they had a chance to turn soft pink.
A lovely post, the oak trees are baffling though !!!!
Thank you Sue, I agree!
Remarkable pix as usual. I always wondered where the term Indian summer came from. Thanks for the explanation. And I will ask around here about the oak trees.
Thank you Cynthia. There are several explanations regarding the term Indian summer but that one seems the most plausible to the staff at the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
It would be interesting to hear if your oak trees did the same thing!
The oak trees in my yard dropped all their leaves in one day last weekend. I have never seen this before, and this early. It was amazing watching them blow off the trees. Thank you for the Indian Summer explanation!
“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.”
~ Henry David Thoreau ~
Thanks Paula. I sure wish I knew what triggered such a dramatic leaf drop. Nobody I’ve talked to has ever seen anything like it.
Thanks for the HDT quote. It’s one of my favorites and is very true!
Reblogged this on Dawn of Divine Rays and commented:
Thank you, Allen. Happy Weekend. Namaste
You’re welcome and thank you Agnes. I hope you have a great weekend!
Your definition of a turkey as a bird flying around with a lot of historical baggage gave me a great visual and a smile. Very nice writing!
Thanks Judy!
Isn’t it amazing how the discarded items have a whole story that we can only imagine, like the squirrel’s tail and the turkey feather? Winter is so long and cold there in New England that I am heartened to hear that you are having an Indian Summer.
Thanks Mike. Yes, the things we see can leave us wondering sometimes. I see a lot of feathers but not too many squirrel tails.
November has been warmer than average and I heard that when that happened over the last 48 years we had a milder winter, so I’m hoping we see nothing like the last two winters!