Autumn at the Brick Works

An overcast day last week (Wed. Nov. 3) turned out to be the perfect lighting to bring out the beauty of the late fall colours at the Brick Works.

I was actually hunting for goldfinches to photograph, as I have had excellent luck here with them in the past. The goldfinches — and the chickadees and slate-backed juncos  — gorge themselves in the fall in the swaying branches of the goldenrod gone to seed. It’s a wonder to behold.

On Wednesday, however, I wasn’t too successful with the birds. I managed to get so-so shots of a busy cardinal (peeking through some tree branches…he was a very shy guy…), ditto on the shots of chickadees and juncos (upside down, even the weight of their tiny bodies bending the goldenrod seed heads nearly to the ground) and lots of shots of robins (slightly more co-operative). I saw, but didn’t photograph, blue jays, woodpeckers, four hawks circling over the valley looking for an early dinner (buteos, but they were too high above me to be certain what species). And wonder of wonders, a pair of  absolutely stunning eastern bluebirds, a first for me.

Eventually, I abandoned the birdies, and decided to move on. I decided to explore the north slope of the old quarry, so headed up one of the narrow paths leading up from the valley floor. The steepness of the paths made it a wee bit difficult to climb with all my gear, but eventually I made it up and was rewarded for my efforts with a stunning view across the valley that I had never seen before.

In the photo above, you can see that the oak trees on the hillside are stubbornly retaining their bronze-coloured leaves, while most of the rest of the deciduous trees have lost all their leaves. The golden yellow trees are tamaracks.

I decided to walk along the eastern ridge of the quarry towards the exposed north slope, discovering fascinating relationships among the various elements of our city’s transportation networks (its north-south rail corridors — who knew they were so incredibly busy? — and the placement of the Don Valley Parking Lot and the Bayview Extension in the broad misfit valley of the Don  River.

Reaching the north slope, I found two types of oak leaves freshly fallen from the old giants growing there. I think the more pointed bronze-coloured leaves are black oak, and the pinkish ones are white oaks. If anyone knows for sure what they are, please let me know. I find it very intriguing that the oaks seem to be the very last trees to shed their leaves. There must be a good explanation for this, but at this point, I don’t know what it is. Perhaps with more reading about the Carolinian forest that once covered this area, I will find out.

The picture above shows another view of the old quarry’s north slope, with oak trees still bearing some of their bronze-coloured leaves covering the ridge. At the top centre of the photo, you can see Governor’s Bridge in Rosedale.

To see a Google map of the Brick Works property, and the trails I was exploring, click here. At the far right of the Google map, you can see the rail lines I was mentioning earlier in the post. I’d looked at this map many times before, but now have a whole new appreciation of the entire site after having climbed up the path from the valley floor and exploring the narrow  trails at the top of the valley.

To exploration!

© BCP 2010