No Smoke -- No Fire

I got  a message early this morning from a friend in Ohio, about 400 miles away, saying the smoke in their sky was very thick.
Then I read in The Guardian Online that the Western fires were sending smoke eastward blocking the sun in the skies. Could be in the UK in two days?
Meanwhile I was looking out of my windows at what appeared to be a sunny day.
The photos in The Guardian showed the smoke-blotted sun rising behind the Empire State building in NYC. I live about 300 miles northwest of there.
Time to blip-document this event. I walked out on my front deck, pointed the camera to the northern sky at 11 a.m. and blipped the red maple. See for yourself.
More interesting to me is that the very tips of the maple tree are turning reddish for autumn colors. No smoke here and with our nearly permanent burning ban, no fires.
Maybe tomorrow?

Feeling very sorry for all life in the western states.
Apparently, thousands of birds are falling from the skies (also The Guardian) as they try to migrate south but have lost their food sources due to the fires and smoke.