Fall is Back!

Fall weather is back! It hasn't had time to pull up a chair and settle down yet, but summer was chased from the forest last night like a guest who has long overstayed its welcome. Autumn has arrived again, this time with a plan for staying for a while. I'm glad of the cooler temperatures. I'm not used to wearing the same summer clothes for nearly 6 months, and I hope I never have to repeat that experience.

Boy, do I wish I was off work today. This will be a big migration day for all kinds of birds--hawks, songbirds, waterfowl. Birds of any kind prefer to move south with a northwest tailwind behind them to ease the trip. But as I'm at work I'll just have to hope I'll get to see some of the results of today's migration when I get home tonight.

Any day now, juncos should arrive. Somewhere between October 8-12 is when the first of them usually show up at the cabin. It takes several more weeks, though, before they all get here. I was still seeing a few chipping sparrows on Monday evening, though they are rapidly diminishing in number.

The days are getting much noticeably shorter now, despite this longer stay on Daylight Savings Time. The sun is only just breaking the horizon as I leave for work, and it's now dark within an hour of my return home, which very much limits my chances for seeing much outside my door.

The extent of the leaf change here is quite variable--at least that was true through last evening. In some spots it's well advanced, while just a few feet away the trees still look pretty green. That's the case in the photo I'm posting today. I took the photo on Sunday, but if not for the goldenrod and dried grass in the foreground, it might easily have been taken in July. With normal temperatures back and below normal temperatures due by the weekend, it won't look like this by this Sunday, I'm sure.