October 12, 2025 • 16 mins
It’s peak leaf peeping season, and I'm bringing this episode to you from The Leaf Watch Desk deep in the Woods of the James Cave Instagram Feed. This year’s official Leaf Watch Leaf, as voted by listeners, is the Northern Red Oak, and it’s putting on quite a show.
In this episode, I hike the Windham Path in the Great Northern Catskills with Francis X. Driscoll, a 12-year veteran “leaf spotter” for I LOVE NY’s Fall Foliage Report.
Together, we talk about how New York’s iconic fall color forecasts are made, what it takes to predict “peak,” and how one storm – or one weekend – can change everything.
Follow the journey of this year’s fall foliage and see real-time updates on The Jiffy’s Leaf Watch Cam as the season moves toward its final hues.
"The Jiffy Audio Newsletter Podcast" is an audio documentary zine – the official podcast of The Jiffy – exploring the odd histories, cozy mysteries, and surprising characters of upstate New York. Each episode is a small adventure, told with curiosity, humor, and the occasional text message from a stranger.
New episodes drop every other week. Subscribe, share, and take the scenic route with us.
Follow James on Instagram: @jamescave
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
James Cave (00:04):
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Jiffy, a
podcast about upstate New Yorkthat really takes you places
like right now.
In this episode, I'm coming toyou from the Leaf Watch Desk in
the woods of the James Cave It'sGrim Feed.
That's because we are deep intothe thicket of leaf peeping
season.
It's a huge time of year, notjust for all of us at the James
(00:25):
Cave Instagram Feed AudioNewsletter Podcast, but for all
of us in New York.
Autumn is one of New York'smost popular travel periods,
thanks to one of the longest andmost colorful foliage seasons
in the United States, if I dosay so myself.
People come from all over theworld to see these leaves
change, and we have got a lot ofthem.
(00:47):
They're on some maples, they'resumacs, aspens, birch trees,
flowering dogwood, of course,cherry and oak, and I'm just
naming a few of them.
Every year around this time, wekick off our series called Leaf
Watch, as soon as the leavesstart changing, and we observe
the changing of the leavesthrough the experience of a
single leaf.
It's our leaf watch leaf.
(01:07):
Every year it's a differentleaf.
Our first year was 2023, and wehad a sugar maple leaf.
But that leaf disappearedprematurely.
It was very sad.
Year two, last year if youremember, it was the quaking
aspen.
And that one put on a reallygood show for us.
It was very rewarding.
This year though, the 2025 LeafWatch Leaf, the people voted,
and you selected the northernred oak.
(01:29):
It's a beautiful leaf, 7 to 11bristle-tipped lobes, each lobe
sharply pointed.
Here's how you can tell you'relooking at a northern red oak.
Well, it'll be a medium-sizedto large tree that grows 60 to
over 100 feet tall in someplaces.
Now, if you can imagine thebark here, some tree guides
consider the northern red oak asidentifiable by its
(01:51):
lighter-shaded vertical stripes,looking somewhat like ski
slopes going down the trunk.
But you gotta be careful outthere.
You gotta watch out becauseimmature northern red oak can
also be confused with scarletoak.
It's been known to happen.
So just keep your eye out andlook out for those stems, or
what the experts would call thepetiole of the northern red oak,
(02:13):
and you might see some reddishhues there.
Okay, maybe that's something todo with its name.
Well that's our leaf watch leaffor 2025, and it's looking like
uh oh, nope, we're getting akey leaf alert here, a key leaf
alert at the leaf watch desk forfall foliage 2025.
New York's Empire StateDevelopment Division of Tourism
is calling it.
They're calling it now theirfall foliage report for week
(02:34):
five is saying that we are atpeak foliage.
They're calling peak foliageexpected in the Thousand Islands
Seaway region of upstate NewYork.
Uh, they're also anticipatingfor peak or near peak leaves in
select pockets across the regionthis weekend.
Okay, that feels importantbecause uh I Love NY defines
(02:55):
peak as, quote, the best overallappearance the foliage will
have during the season, takinginto account the color
transition, brilliance, and leafdroppage.
Um, I just want to give somebackground quickly because it
was only on September 3rd whenGovernor Kathy Hokel officially
announced the start of fallfoliage travel season throughout
New York State this year, alittle bit earlier than it was
(03:17):
last year, if I recall, and shesaid, quote, there's simply
nothing like autumn in New York.
I have to agree with her onthat one.
It it marked the beginning of ILove NY Fall Foliage Weekly
reports as well as the beginningof Leaf Watch season here on
the feed.
But um, those fall foliagereports, I'm sure you've seen
them.
It's the map of New York Statethat's got those color gradients
(03:40):
all across the regions of NewYork.
Some some are showing no changein the leaves, going to just
changing, and all the waythrough near peak, at peak, and
then past peak.
Sometimes you'll see greens,yellows, reds, all the way to
browns on this map.
And the map right now for weekfive is showing some yellows, a
(04:00):
lot of reds in the Adirondacksand the Catskill peaks, even
some brown here.
So uh it's happening, and theyrelease this every Wednesday
throughout the season, so youcan make your weekend leaf
peeping plans.
They've been doing it for morethan 40 years now, they tell me.
But my question is, how arethose forecasts collected?
Like, how do they know whateach of the states roughly 18.6
(04:22):
million acres of forested landlooks like at any given time?
Well, it turns out that itcomes down to a network of
professional volunteer leafpeepers.
I'm sorry, uh, that's notright.
The state tells me they'reactually called leaf spotters,
not peepers, and there's atleast 90 of them.
So for this episode, I wantedto head out into the Catskills
(04:46):
to take a reading of the leaveswith somebody from that network,
a 12-year veteran of theprogram.
His name is Francis X.
Driscoll.
Francis X. Driscoll (04:59):
We can sit and talk.
We can walk and talk?
James Cave (05:04):
Yeah, let's walk and talk.
Francis X. Driscoll (05:05):
Walk and talk.
James Cave (05:05):
It's my first time at Windham Path.
I've always wanted to be here.
I met Fran at the Windham Pathout in the Great Northern
Catskills.
Francis X. Driscoll (05:11):
I used to come here before it was the
Wyndham Path when it was a farm.
And I'd take pictures here ofhay bales and in in the fall,
especially.
James Cave (05:20):
It's out there by places with such tree adjacent
names as Maplecrest, Ashland,and Oak Hill.
Francis X. Driscoll (05:27):
And I I I guess I'm one of the originals
here.
Yeah, well, they they they hadseen my work and and and they
they they came down to a show Ihad and they uh they lied to me
and said it was a very glamorousjob, you know, one of those
(05:49):
bait and switch things, youknow.
So I I I said I couldn't sayno, they were paying me well for
my pictures at the time.
So I said, yeah, I'll I'll doit.
And that was 12 years ago I Istarted uh reporting.
And it was a natural for mebecause I was always driving
around and and hiking aroundtrying to find peak foliage.
(06:11):
I would be constantly watchingthe progression because if you
didn't go for one day, youmight, you might, or maybe one
or two days you don't show up tosee how the progression is, you
might miss it.
So I I kept, you know, I callit checking in on things and
tucking them in again and andthen coming back the next day
(06:32):
and uh see how they're doing.
One of the worst things thatever happened to me was, well,
not one of the worst things, butuh a very disappointing weekend
was when I used to come up hereuh before I moved here, I used
to come up on weekends in thefall with my wife to look at
fall foliage.
And we could only get here onthe weekend.
(06:54):
We worked in the city.
So we we got here.
I remember one time I got hereand it was peak was in the
middle of the week.
And we got here on the weekend,and the leaves were a lot of
the trees were bare.
They've lost their leavesreally quick.
So I remember that to this day,that it was very disappointing.
(07:17):
And I think about thatsometimes when I'm I usually
when I'm doing my report, thatuh, you know, I try to get it
right, you know, and butsometimes you don't get it
right.
James Cave (07:28):
So you think about the people who might be relying
on these maps in your reporting,is that right?
Francis X. Driscoll (07:32):
Yeah, yeah.
I'm the one that always gets itwrong.
You know, I'm consistentthough.
So they probably look at myreport and go, we'll report the
opposite.
No, it's uh most of the timeI've done it right, you know.
They haven't fired me yet, butbut they haven't paid me either,
so they don't pay me.
They don't pay me by the hour,you know.
But I'm out there taking mypictures anyway.
(07:53):
So this is like a win-win forme.
James Cave (07:55):
What region, what region do you typically um focus
on?
Like what's your what's yourterritory?
Francis X. Driscoll (08:01):
Well, my territory is in Green County,
Catskills, basically mostly inCatskill Park, and from the
elevation of 1,500 feet to about4,000 feet high peaks.
So, and I travel around.
They're always asking for areport to be filed on Monday of
(08:22):
the week and to give an estimateas to what, or a guesstimate as
to what it's gonna be thecoming weekend, which is I think
I thought was totally insanebecause like I said, if in a
couple of days, things canchange dramatically, even like
overnight.
(08:42):
So many times I'll be callingthem back on a Wednesday or some
sometimes on a Friday,frantically saying, change that
report.
It's it's gotten, especiallywhen it goes to peak.
With photography, my goalalways was to photograph quite a
few locations, as many aspossible, at full peak.
(09:02):
One of the worst things for meas a photographer is to take a
picture of a tree without leaveson it.
You know, that is not conduciveto my pictures.
And I sell my pictures up here,so you know, it's nice to see
people come up to see the fallfoliage.
And actually the tourism isgood for my business.
So it's like a self-servingthing that I do.
(09:23):
I try not to lie about it andsay every weekend is peak.
But, you know, every weekendcan't be peak, you know, and uh,
but maybe that's what what whatmakes it special, you know.
I don't know.
Hopefully I I'll get it rightthis year.
But it's it's pretty roughright now.
James Cave (09:41):
Yeah, can you tell me?
Let's look at this year andwhat's happening so far.
Like what have you been seeingand what's striking you uh out
as being sort of notable thisyear.
Francis X. Driscoll (09:50):
Well, I think the drought has there
there's sex well, it it wasearlier than than I remember.
It's just like overnight.
I I don't think I've everremember it changing overnight
that quick and that early.
But then I said, well, there isthe drought, and every year
(10:10):
there are some trees that arestressed out or they may have
some disease and they changeearly.
But this year it was probablymore for the for the drought.
James Cave (10:19):
About how many different is this uh one of your
main places to look at to sortof take the temperature on what
the trees are up to?
Francis X. Driscoll (10:26):
Yeah, I usually well I I I I live right
up the road here, so this iswhere I start out every morning.
You can see right now we're atabout 15, maybe 1200 feet, 1,500
feet.
And you can see the trees onthe left at our level, just
starting to change over herenext to the path.
But in the hill, looking acrosshere, you can see uh that's
(10:50):
starting to change up there, andyou can see it's starting that
it goes from orange and and somereds, mostly orange right now.
And coming down in elevation,you see actually this it looks
like there's some purple inthere right now, but it gets to
now it it cut as you come downin elevation, you can see it
(11:11):
back to green, back to juststarting to change.
We have a cross-section ofeverything right now.
Some of the trees are startingto actually lose some of their
leaves a little bit already, butnothing drastic.
You know, I think after thefirst big frost that might start
happening.
Or a windy, rainy day.
James Cave (11:31):
Yeah, you mentioned earlier maybe one of the worst
things to happen is uh is like awindstorm, right?
Francis X. Driscoll (11:35):
Yeah, yeah, I I remember growing up in the
Bronx and first time seeing uhseeing uh leaves change and I
remember taking them and gluingthem to paper in in in in
school, you know, and and uh butuh now I'd like to glue them
back on the trees, but I can'tdo that.
James Cave (11:58):
What would be if today was your data report, what
would you file?
What would be your report fortoday?
Looking based on what we justsaw in Windows Mountain.
Francis X. Driscoll (12:05):
I mean for the coming week or for as what
it is, what stage it is at rightnow?
James Cave (12:10):
Oh well, that's a good question.
So if you're making the reportfor people to make their plans
for the following weekend.
Francis X. Driscoll (12:16):
This coming weekend.
James Cave (12:17):
Yeah, how do you think about that?
Because you're what you'reseeing now, I guess you're kind
of like predicting in in a way.
You're doing a forecast, right?
Francis X. Driscoll (12:24):
Well, I pray real hard and then that I'm
gonna get it right.
No, I I um I look at theweather report and see if it's
gonna be really cold and um ifit's gonna have rain or wind,
stuff like that.
(12:44):
That's gonna affect whatever'shere.
You know, cold nights and sunnydays help the leaves to change.
James Cave (12:52):
So in the iHeartNY uh fall foliage forecast map,
they have these tiers, right?
It starts at like no change,then there's slight change.
What are and then there's peak,go and then a past peak.
What are those stages?
Francis X. Driscoll (13:05):
Let me see if I can get the app up.
Okay, oh, there you go.
See, here's the app.
It says, you know, 2025 fallfoliage reporting form.
Um, and so the first questionis which week are you reporting
from?
You know, so uh the you know itwas two two days ago.
Yeah, my name, um, what countyare you reporting from?
(13:28):
And then it goes to all thesecounties.
And what region are youreporting?
Uh where are Catskills?
And uh what is your reportingstation?
I usually say the high peaks ofthe Catskills, uh, or Great Mo
Northern Catskills, mountaintop.
What percentage of leaves doyou estimate to be changed by
(13:49):
the coming weekend?
That's this is done on aMonday.
So like I said, that's acrapshoot sometimes.
You know, you can do aguesstimate.
It's a sliding scale tool youjust yeah, and when it gets near
peak, Friday I'm you sometimescalling and saying it's it's
peak, and I'm frantic.
But sometimes he's able to getit into the station, sometimes
(14:10):
he says, uh too late.
I can't, you know, may not beable to get it in there.
I'll try.
But get get it into the TVstations.
So it says, what is the overallbrilliance of the leaves?
And the options are, thesuggestions are dull, average,
bright, very brilliant.
So the last is the best that uhI I always hope for.
(14:32):
But I am truthful about thisbecause I don't mind if other
photographers get up here andget good pictures.
I'd like to tell them all stayat home, but I can't do that.
James Cave (14:42):
Do you uh identify as a leaf peeper or a leaf
spotter?
Francis X. Driscoll (14:46):
Leaf spotter.
It changed.
It at at at one point years agothey said leaf peeper.
But uh you know, I like leafspotter better.
But uh I don't like spots onthe leaves.
James Cave (14:59):
Yes, but yeah, but what's wrong with peeping?
Francis X. Driscoll (15:02):
I don't know.
It's more like a peeping tom,you know.
I don't know.
I'm from New York City, so youknow peeping.
James Cave (15:07):
It's a little creepy factor.
Francis X. Driscoll (15:09):
Yeah, I I I'm not uh yeah, I'm I'm not
peeping.
I I I'm I'm basicallyabsorbing, you know, trying to
uh absorb the whole place, youknow.
It it's been entertaining doingit for the last 12 years.
It's not boring because it itis constantly changing.
Sometimes it's frustrating, butI'll have a month of taking
(15:32):
pictures.
You could see you can see thatthe change from where we are to
to going from green up to uh itmight be getting close to peak
next week, uh up at that highpeak over there, but hopefully
it'll hold.
James Cave (15:47):
And there's always next year, right?
Francis X. Driscoll (15:49):
Yes, there's yes, that's that's
that's the save hole.
James Cave (15:56):
Well, that's gonna do it for us out here at the
Leaf Watch Desk in the Woods ofthe James Cave Instagram Feed.
To stay up to date on thelatest as the season progresses
through the experience of oursingle leaf watch leaf, the
Northern Red Oak.
I'll keep you posted with ourLeaf Watch cam until that leaf
uh is completely past peak.
If you like this episode, maybeshare it with a friend.
(16:18):
Let them know what's happeningout here in the woods this time
of year.
It's all very exciting, and itreally helps to spread the word
as I try to grow this podcast.
I really appreciate it.
And also, thanks for listeningall the way to the end of this
episode.
Okay, until next time, I'll seeyou over on the Instagram feed.
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Jiffy, a
podcast about upstate New Yorkthat really takes you places
like right now.
In this episode, I'm coming toyou from the Leaf Watch Desk in
the woods of the James Cave It'sGrim Feed.
That's because we are deep intothe thicket of leaf peeping
season.
It's a huge time of year, notjust for all of us at the James
(00:25):
Cave Instagram Feed AudioNewsletter Podcast, but for all
of us in New York.
Autumn is one of New York'smost popular travel periods,
thanks to one of the longest andmost colorful foliage seasons
in the United States, if I dosay so myself.
People come from all over theworld to see these leaves
change, and we have got a lot ofthem.
(00:47):
They're on some maples, they'resumacs, aspens, birch trees,
flowering dogwood, of course,cherry and oak, and I'm just
naming a few of them.
Every year around this time, wekick off our series called Leaf
Watch, as soon as the leavesstart changing, and we observe
the changing of the leavesthrough the experience of a
single leaf.
It's our leaf watch leaf.
(01:07):
Every year it's a differentleaf.
Our first year was 2023, and wehad a sugar maple leaf.
But that leaf disappearedprematurely.
It was very sad.
Year two, last year if youremember, it was the quaking
aspen.
And that one put on a reallygood show for us.
It was very rewarding.
This year though, the 2025 LeafWatch Leaf, the people voted,
and you selected the northernred oak.
(01:29):
It's a beautiful leaf, 7 to 11bristle-tipped lobes, each lobe
sharply pointed.
Here's how you can tell you'relooking at a northern red oak.
Well, it'll be a medium-sizedto large tree that grows 60 to
over 100 feet tall in someplaces.
Now, if you can imagine thebark here, some tree guides
consider the northern red oak asidentifiable by its
(01:51):
lighter-shaded vertical stripes,looking somewhat like ski
slopes going down the trunk.
But you gotta be careful outthere.
You gotta watch out becauseimmature northern red oak can
also be confused with scarletoak.
It's been known to happen.
So just keep your eye out andlook out for those stems, or
what the experts would call thepetiole of the northern red oak,
(02:13):
and you might see some reddishhues there.
Okay, maybe that's something todo with its name.
Well that's our leaf watch leaffor 2025, and it's looking like
uh oh, nope, we're getting akey leaf alert here, a key leaf
alert at the leaf watch desk forfall foliage 2025.
New York's Empire StateDevelopment Division of Tourism
is calling it.
They're calling it now theirfall foliage report for week
(02:34):
five is saying that we are atpeak foliage.
They're calling peak foliageexpected in the Thousand Islands
Seaway region of upstate NewYork.
Uh, they're also anticipatingfor peak or near peak leaves in
select pockets across the regionthis weekend.
Okay, that feels importantbecause uh I Love NY defines
(02:55):
peak as, quote, the best overallappearance the foliage will
have during the season, takinginto account the color
transition, brilliance, and leafdroppage.
Um, I just want to give somebackground quickly because it
was only on September 3rd whenGovernor Kathy Hokel officially
announced the start of fallfoliage travel season throughout
New York State this year, alittle bit earlier than it was
(03:17):
last year, if I recall, and shesaid, quote, there's simply
nothing like autumn in New York.
I have to agree with her onthat one.
It it marked the beginning of ILove NY Fall Foliage Weekly
reports as well as the beginningof Leaf Watch season here on
the feed.
But um, those fall foliagereports, I'm sure you've seen
them.
It's the map of New York Statethat's got those color gradients
(03:40):
all across the regions of NewYork.
Some some are showing no changein the leaves, going to just
changing, and all the waythrough near peak, at peak, and
then past peak.
Sometimes you'll see greens,yellows, reds, all the way to
browns on this map.
And the map right now for weekfive is showing some yellows, a
(04:00):
lot of reds in the Adirondacksand the Catskill peaks, even
some brown here.
So uh it's happening, and theyrelease this every Wednesday
throughout the season, so youcan make your weekend leaf
peeping plans.
They've been doing it for morethan 40 years now, they tell me.
But my question is, how arethose forecasts collected?
Like, how do they know whateach of the states roughly 18.6
(04:22):
million acres of forested landlooks like at any given time?
Well, it turns out that itcomes down to a network of
professional volunteer leafpeepers.
I'm sorry, uh, that's notright.
The state tells me they'reactually called leaf spotters,
not peepers, and there's atleast 90 of them.
So for this episode, I wantedto head out into the Catskills
(04:46):
to take a reading of the leaveswith somebody from that network,
a 12-year veteran of theprogram.
His name is Francis X.
Driscoll.
Francis X. Driscoll (04:59):
We can sit and talk.
We can walk and talk?
James Cave (05:04):
Yeah, let's walk and talk.
Francis X. Driscoll (05:05):
Walk and talk.
James Cave (05:05):
It's my first time at Windham Path.
I've always wanted to be here.
I met Fran at the Windham Pathout in the Great Northern
Catskills.
Francis X. Driscoll (05:11):
I used to come here before it was the
Wyndham Path when it was a farm.
And I'd take pictures here ofhay bales and in in the fall,
especially.
James Cave (05:20):
It's out there by places with such tree adjacent
names as Maplecrest, Ashland,and Oak Hill.
Francis X. Driscoll (05:27):
And I I I guess I'm one of the originals
here.
Yeah, well, they they they hadseen my work and and and they
they they came down to a show Ihad and they uh they lied to me
and said it was a very glamorousjob, you know, one of those
(05:49):
bait and switch things, youknow.
So I I I said I couldn't sayno, they were paying me well for
my pictures at the time.
So I said, yeah, I'll I'll doit.
And that was 12 years ago I Istarted uh reporting.
And it was a natural for mebecause I was always driving
around and and hiking aroundtrying to find peak foliage.
(06:11):
I would be constantly watchingthe progression because if you
didn't go for one day, youmight, you might, or maybe one
or two days you don't show up tosee how the progression is, you
might miss it.
So I I kept, you know, I callit checking in on things and
tucking them in again and andthen coming back the next day
(06:32):
and uh see how they're doing.
One of the worst things thatever happened to me was, well,
not one of the worst things, butuh a very disappointing weekend
was when I used to come up hereuh before I moved here, I used
to come up on weekends in thefall with my wife to look at
fall foliage.
And we could only get here onthe weekend.
(06:54):
We worked in the city.
So we we got here.
I remember one time I got hereand it was peak was in the
middle of the week.
And we got here on the weekend,and the leaves were a lot of
the trees were bare.
They've lost their leavesreally quick.
So I remember that to this day,that it was very disappointing.
(07:17):
And I think about thatsometimes when I'm I usually
when I'm doing my report, thatuh, you know, I try to get it
right, you know, and butsometimes you don't get it
right.
James Cave (07:28):
So you think about the people who might be relying
on these maps in your reporting,is that right?
Francis X. Driscoll (07:32):
Yeah, yeah.
I'm the one that always gets itwrong.
You know, I'm consistentthough.
So they probably look at myreport and go, we'll report the
opposite.
No, it's uh most of the timeI've done it right, you know.
They haven't fired me yet, butbut they haven't paid me either,
so they don't pay me.
They don't pay me by the hour,you know.
But I'm out there taking mypictures anyway.
(07:53):
So this is like a win-win forme.
James Cave (07:55):
What region, what region do you typically um focus
on?
Like what's your what's yourterritory?
Francis X. Driscoll (08:01):
Well, my territory is in Green County,
Catskills, basically mostly inCatskill Park, and from the
elevation of 1,500 feet to about4,000 feet high peaks.
So, and I travel around.
They're always asking for areport to be filed on Monday of
(08:22):
the week and to give an estimateas to what, or a guesstimate as
to what it's gonna be thecoming weekend, which is I think
I thought was totally insanebecause like I said, if in a
couple of days, things canchange dramatically, even like
overnight.
(08:42):
So many times I'll be callingthem back on a Wednesday or some
sometimes on a Friday,frantically saying, change that
report.
It's it's gotten, especiallywhen it goes to peak.
With photography, my goalalways was to photograph quite a
few locations, as many aspossible, at full peak.
(09:02):
One of the worst things for meas a photographer is to take a
picture of a tree without leaveson it.
You know, that is not conduciveto my pictures.
And I sell my pictures up here,so you know, it's nice to see
people come up to see the fallfoliage.
And actually the tourism isgood for my business.
So it's like a self-servingthing that I do.
(09:23):
I try not to lie about it andsay every weekend is peak.
But, you know, every weekendcan't be peak, you know, and uh,
but maybe that's what what whatmakes it special, you know.
I don't know.
Hopefully I I'll get it rightthis year.
But it's it's pretty roughright now.
James Cave (09:41):
Yeah, can you tell me?
Let's look at this year andwhat's happening so far.
Like what have you been seeingand what's striking you uh out
as being sort of notable thisyear.
Francis X. Driscoll (09:50):
Well, I think the drought has there
there's sex well, it it wasearlier than than I remember.
It's just like overnight.
I I don't think I've everremember it changing overnight
that quick and that early.
But then I said, well, there isthe drought, and every year
(10:10):
there are some trees that arestressed out or they may have
some disease and they changeearly.
But this year it was probablymore for the for the drought.
James Cave (10:19):
About how many different is this uh one of your
main places to look at to sortof take the temperature on what
the trees are up to?
Francis X. Driscoll (10:26):
Yeah, I usually well I I I I live right
up the road here, so this iswhere I start out every morning.
You can see right now we're atabout 15, maybe 1200 feet, 1,500
feet.
And you can see the trees onthe left at our level, just
starting to change over herenext to the path.
But in the hill, looking acrosshere, you can see uh that's
(10:50):
starting to change up there, andyou can see it's starting that
it goes from orange and and somereds, mostly orange right now.
And coming down in elevation,you see actually this it looks
like there's some purple inthere right now, but it gets to
now it it cut as you come downin elevation, you can see it
(11:11):
back to green, back to juststarting to change.
We have a cross-section ofeverything right now.
Some of the trees are startingto actually lose some of their
leaves a little bit already, butnothing drastic.
You know, I think after thefirst big frost that might start
happening.
Or a windy, rainy day.
James Cave (11:31):
Yeah, you mentioned earlier maybe one of the worst
things to happen is uh is like awindstorm, right?
Francis X. Driscoll (11:35):
Yeah, yeah, I I remember growing up in the
Bronx and first time seeing uhseeing uh leaves change and I
remember taking them and gluingthem to paper in in in in
school, you know, and and uh butuh now I'd like to glue them
back on the trees, but I can'tdo that.
James Cave (11:58):
What would be if today was your data report, what
would you file?
What would be your report fortoday?
Looking based on what we justsaw in Windows Mountain.
Francis X. Driscoll (12:05):
I mean for the coming week or for as what
it is, what stage it is at rightnow?
James Cave (12:10):
Oh well, that's a good question.
So if you're making the reportfor people to make their plans
for the following weekend.
Francis X. Driscoll (12:16):
This coming weekend.
James Cave (12:17):
Yeah, how do you think about that?
Because you're what you'reseeing now, I guess you're kind
of like predicting in in a way.
You're doing a forecast, right?
Francis X. Driscoll (12:24):
Well, I pray real hard and then that I'm
gonna get it right.
No, I I um I look at theweather report and see if it's
gonna be really cold and um ifit's gonna have rain or wind,
stuff like that.
(12:44):
That's gonna affect whatever'shere.
You know, cold nights and sunnydays help the leaves to change.
James Cave (12:52):
So in the iHeartNY uh fall foliage forecast map,
they have these tiers, right?
It starts at like no change,then there's slight change.
What are and then there's peak,go and then a past peak.
What are those stages?
Francis X. Driscoll (13:05):
Let me see if I can get the app up.
Okay, oh, there you go.
See, here's the app.
It says, you know, 2025 fallfoliage reporting form.
Um, and so the first questionis which week are you reporting
from?
You know, so uh the you know itwas two two days ago.
Yeah, my name, um, what countyare you reporting from?
(13:28):
And then it goes to all thesecounties.
And what region are youreporting?
Uh where are Catskills?
And uh what is your reportingstation?
I usually say the high peaks ofthe Catskills, uh, or Great Mo
Northern Catskills, mountaintop.
What percentage of leaves doyou estimate to be changed by
(13:49):
the coming weekend?
That's this is done on aMonday.
So like I said, that's acrapshoot sometimes.
You know, you can do aguesstimate.
It's a sliding scale tool youjust yeah, and when it gets near
peak, Friday I'm you sometimescalling and saying it's it's
peak, and I'm frantic.
But sometimes he's able to getit into the station, sometimes
(14:10):
he says, uh too late.
I can't, you know, may not beable to get it in there.
I'll try.
But get get it into the TVstations.
So it says, what is the overallbrilliance of the leaves?
And the options are, thesuggestions are dull, average,
bright, very brilliant.
So the last is the best that uhI I always hope for.
(14:32):
But I am truthful about thisbecause I don't mind if other
photographers get up here andget good pictures.
I'd like to tell them all stayat home, but I can't do that.
James Cave (14:42):
Do you uh identify as a leaf peeper or a leaf
spotter?
Francis X. Driscoll (14:46):
Leaf spotter.
It changed.
It at at at one point years agothey said leaf peeper.
But uh you know, I like leafspotter better.
But uh I don't like spots onthe leaves.
James Cave (14:59):
Yes, but yeah, but what's wrong with peeping?
Francis X. Driscoll (15:02):
I don't know.
It's more like a peeping tom,you know.
I don't know.
I'm from New York City, so youknow peeping.
James Cave (15:07):
It's a little creepy factor.
Francis X. Driscoll (15:09):
Yeah, I I I'm not uh yeah, I'm I'm not
peeping.
I I I'm I'm basicallyabsorbing, you know, trying to
uh absorb the whole place, youknow.
It it's been entertaining doingit for the last 12 years.
It's not boring because it itis constantly changing.
Sometimes it's frustrating, butI'll have a month of taking
(15:32):
pictures.
You could see you can see thatthe change from where we are to
to going from green up to uh itmight be getting close to peak
next week, uh up at that highpeak over there, but hopefully
it'll hold.
James Cave (15:47):
And there's always next year, right?
Francis X. Driscoll (15:49):
Yes, there's yes, that's that's
that's the save hole.
James Cave (15:56):
Well, that's gonna do it for us out here at the
Leaf Watch Desk in the Woods ofthe James Cave Instagram Feed.
To stay up to date on thelatest as the season progresses
through the experience of oursingle leaf watch leaf, the
Northern Red Oak.
I'll keep you posted with ourLeaf Watch cam until that leaf
uh is completely past peak.
If you like this episode, maybeshare it with a friend.
(16:18):
Let them know what's happeningout here in the woods this time
of year.
It's all very exciting, and itreally helps to spread the word
as I try to grow this podcast.
I really appreciate it.
And also, thanks for listeningall the way to the end of this
episode.
Okay, until next time, I'll seeyou over on the Instagram feed.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!