The Rut Begins

As our days keep growing shorter, extra testosterone is being released in the bodies of bucks. This causes all sorts of changes in them. For one, the antlers they've been growing all summer harden and their velvety covering falls off. The antlers are now ready to help the buck compete for does. When bucks compete, they lock antlers with one another and shove and twist their bodies back and forth for several seconds to minutes. Eventually, the loser will give up and retreat.

Bucks also begin to advertise their presence by leaving several types of scent markers. One is left when they rub on shrubs and trees, leaving scent markers from glands on their foreheads behind. Another is in their saliva and is left by licking high branches. Their calling cards are also left by glands between their toes when they scrape at the ground. These scent markers advertise a buck's territory to other males, as well as their presence to females. When does are ready to mate, they leave scent messages behind in their urine. Bucks are able to read these messages and will then pursue the doe.

Inside a Deer

To fuel all of this activity, deer eat an amazing variety of things: buds, acorns, leaves, twigs, fruit, seeds, moss, lichens, fungi, aquatic plants, and grasses. They have even been seen munching on snails and dried fish! Deer need to eat ten pounds of food a day to survive, not an easy thing to do while you're looking for predators.

To allow deer to eat and run, they have a four-chambered stomach. The first chamber, called the rumen, stores food that has been quickly gobbled up. When the deer find a safe place to rest, they will regurgitate the food from the rumen up in a lump and rechew it. Then, they swallow the food again and it travels through their other three stomach chambers and into their intestines. A deer's stomach has millions of microorganisms in it which help digest the tough plant fibers a deer eats.

Leaves Decay

Now that most of our leaves have dropped to the forest floor, the process of decomposition can begin. Each tree species has a slightly different method of decay. Maple leaves hold their nutrients when they drop from the tree. This means that they decompose quickly, creating a forest floor rich in nutrients, insects, and bacteria. Oak trees, however, draw nutrients back from their leaves before they fall. This makes fallen oak leaves acidic and slow to decompose. The forest floor beneath oak trees often has few nutrients, bacteria, or earthworms, but many fungi. Fallen pine and hemlock needles are also acidic and decompose slowly, giving off few nutrients to the surrounding soil.

​Watch for Cedar Waxwings

As the weather turns cold, you're likely to hear the light, high "sree" of a moving flock of cedar waxwings. Because these birds eat mostly fruit, they nest later in the season than most other birds. This helps to ensure lots of available food for their young. It also means that they must migrate later than most other songbirds. Flocks of 30-100 birds are often seen at this time of year, stopping wherever there is fruit along their southward path. Unlike most other flocks of birds, waxwings are very polite about feeding together and actually take turns. Cedar waxwings got their name from the red tips of their wings which look like they were dipped in wax.

Did you know? Most cedar waxwings have a yellow band at the bottom of their tails, but researchers have recently noticed that some birds have orange tail bands instead. Why? It turns out that these birds have been eating berries from an invasive honeysuckle with red pigment, which turns the tips of their new tail feathers orange instead of yellow.

Hear this bird's call: Macaulay Library

Learn more: Cornell Lab of Ornithlogy