With red maple and big-toothed aspen leaves falling, I played hooky a bit and snapped pictures of color on this sunny day. The main color of the northwoods here in fall is yellow from the aspens and birch, 
Wolf in yardunlike the blaze of many colors in New England from its many maples and other trees. So when I saw the reddest red maple leaves I have seen this fall, I had to click. Red maple leaves come in all colors from yellow to orange to bright red here for reasons I don’t know, but bright red leaves are my favorite. When I saw the darker, more subdued red of northern pin oak leaves, I had to click for comparison.
A nice sight was a mourning cloak butterfly spreading its dark wings to the sun. This butterfly is the first in spring and the last in fall. They face a lot of cool weather and have the dark wings to absorb heat from the sun.
 Red maple leaves |
 Yellow maple |
 Overlook |
At dusk, a gray fox cruised through the yard, followed by a wolf doing the same a couple minutes later. The wolf paused and sniffed the ground long enough for a quick click out the window.
 Big-toothed aspen leaf |
 Mourning cloak butterfly |
 Northern pin oak |
The day ended after dark with Samantha and her four cubs making the day complete.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center