Now that we’re turning the clocks back to Eastern Standard Time this weekend , it’s finally beginning to feel like fall.

The branches of the dawn redwood tree in the yard are turning orange, and the wooded hillside behind the farmhouse across the street is colorful. Relatively speaking, it’s been warmer than normal until now, but that will almost certainly change as winter approaches.

However, until it gets colder in the coming weeks there won’t be much bird activity at backyard feeders. That won’t happen until temperatures get a lot lower because there’s so much natural wild food still available.

In addition to the attractive trees, many shrubs and other native plants have colored up. Native pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) plants have grown big, sometimes 8 or 9 feet tall, they’ve

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