Identificaciones de liamthornebirderboy

For many years I have been frequently camping & canoeing in Ontario, from May till October. While camping in a park in late September in the mid-1990 s, for the first time my friend and I sniffed a very distinctive scent, most likely secreted by a plant. We tried to find the source of that odor, but to no avail. Since then I have often encountered this smell in various areas, yet it was only in September, 2020, while camping in a provincial park, when I was finally able to locate the source of this odor! Of course, I took a bunch of photos of the shrub, which I am attaching here, along with more specific information which, I hope, can help in its identification. Please excuse my very amateurish language, but know next to nothing about the proper plant nomenclature—hopefully, my photos will be more elucidating.

Scent: it is rather pungent and resembles sweaty & smelly feet, or even that in groin/buttocks area. It is quite similar to the scent of the valerian root (stinky cheese). The shrub was about 10 meters from our campsite, yet I got its whiff right away, albeit it was quite faint.

Source of the scent: a shrub with yellow leaves (or at least they were yellow at the end of September). There were both yellow leaves and leaves that had become dark and dry. However, the leaves, when yellow, do NOT smell. It is only the DRY leaves that emit this scent. Perhaps that is why I do not remember every encountering this smell in May-August. I brought a jar with a few of the leaves home and for at least for 2 weeks the smell remained.

Another interesting thing-when I was camping in the same park one year later (end of August, 2021), I went to see the shrub—unfortunately, it looked dead, there were not any leaves on its branches (dead or alive) and I did not detect any smell.

I would appreciate any input whatsoever!

Our son found many wings (without bodies) on our back steps and behind our garden box. Possible that they were predated by a bird but seems unlikely for those that were found behind the garden box. It is a rainy day.