Monday, September 04, 2006

The Season Changes

Ernesto's rain has ended, but as you can see the sky is still dark and dreary, and the light for photography is pretty bad. So naturally, I came across a large, probably female, red-tailed hawk sitting on a wire as soon as I left the cover of the woods yesterday.

Hurricane Ernesto was a season-changing kind of storm. From here on, the weather won't likely get as hot as mid-summer, though it's still possible to get a few more hot days.

The storm also started birds moving in a way that I hadn't yet seen before it. As soon as the storm cleared, I started seeing loose flocks of small birds headed south. Most were starlings or finches, but it's the first time I've seen birds in flocks since summer started. This morning I saw a south-bound dragonfly. Yes, they migrate too. Tomorrow is to bring more rain, so I'm optimistic that today will bring a good early-season hawk migration. I'm heading off to a hawkwatch to enjoy the show.

I did manage to get one better and closer picture of Ms. Redtail sitting on the wire.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed your articles about hawkwatching. Red Tailed Hawks are one of my favorites. I haven't really been out birdwatching, but I would like to. I don't know any birders to go with or to learn from though. A couple years ago my mom and I drove my sister back to school in Arizona. We drove from St. Louis to somewhere in Texas. Missouri was pretty, but the rest of the trip was dull. We were rewarded with several hawk sightings though on the way through southern Missouri and Northern Oklahoma. I only wish I wasn't driving so I could have gotten a better look.