Fall foliage, early edition -- UPDATED with IDs

No, we don't have too many fall leaves turning yet, but we do have a lot of nice fall flowers blooming. Gretchen, her gf, and AB and I went camping at Greenwood Furnace (they have a great pair of very isolated walk-up sites that we love) and got some great flower and mushroom photos. The best bird of the trip was a beautiful Ovenbird just above eye-level who gave us quite a show, including raised crest just like Crossley shows; unfortunately, he dashed out of sight before either of us could snap a photo. Flowers are infinitely easier to capture!

Meadow Closed Gentian

Calico Aster

the seed pods from Doll's Eyes, which are kinda creepy


some interesting orange-topped mushrooms

Magenta Coral mushroom?

a shimmery purple mushroom--it was like a cartoon mushroom from Barbie land

couldn't ID this one -- any ideas?

Is this a Striped Maple Tree? Here are the leaves:

Saw some nice moths; at least I think the second one is a moth:
there's nothing for scale, but he was at least two inches from tip to wing-end! He's a beauty! Perhaps some kind of underwing?

I don't know if this is some sort of clearwing moth or some gigantic mosquito hawk -- again, with nothing to show scale, it's hard to see that he's about 1-1/2 inches long with a 2-inch+ wingspan. Per Wren, my friend from Cape May, it's a Giant Eastern Crane Fly, Pedicia albivitta, and quite a beautiful little specimen. Harmless, per What's That Bug?

And some soon-to-be moths!
the closest I can come on this guy is a Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar
possible Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar

I leave you with this scary-big bee-wasp-possible-clearwing-moth thing:He was at least 1-1/2 inches long! I have gone through all the images of clearwings on the Bug Guide site, but I can't find one with this pattern of body -- many are close, but not exact matches. And if he's a bee or wasp... holy moly. His wings were constantly flapping, and he was very scary to someone who's allergic to bee and wasp stings -- like me. There's some discussion in the comments as to whether it's a Cicada Killer or a European Hornet -- not really sure. Either way, it's creepy and scary -- but it didn't display any aggressive behaviors, at least.