Oct. 6…A slight yellowing of the leaves can be seen.
Closer up, you can see more yellowing of the leaves. As I understand it, as the nights become longer, the tree senses that winter is coming and stops making chlorophyll. Chlorophyll gives the leaf the green color. When chlorophyll decreases, the other colors come through. In this case, yellow.
You can see how the chlorophyll is disappearing. At this stage it is only located along the veins.
Cones are ready to fall off. I reached up to grab one and it fell apart in my hand.
I reached a second cone, this time being careful not to crush it, and laid it on the side walk before cutting it open.
What’s inside the River Birch cone? Seeds, lots of them.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
It has been quite an education on the birch tree and I’m still learning! I think this is the time of year that it will look most impressive, as the colours change.
I’m learning a lot too. I’m tempted to plant those seeds to see what I get, but I planned to plant last year’s tree seeds too and still haven’t gotten around to it. 😀