Even the fawns are growing up, though they are still spotted. The one I saw last evening was alone but seemed full of itself, saucy even, giving me a look that seemed to say, “You can’t catch me, so there!” With that it kicked up its tail and its heels and danced off into the woods. Such youthful exuberance, as yet unchallenged or tested by life’s hard knocks.
In another week I could legitimately start fall hawkwatching, though early August only brings out the hardcore hawkwatchers. We usually couch our own abundance of enthusiasm by saying it’s just to get the eyes and the binoculars dialed in before the action really begins. Early August hawkwatching is usually more about catching up on the doings of other hawkwatchers since the end of the last migration season. By the time the socializing is up to date, maybe the hawks will really be on the move. Sometimes we actually get rewarded for our early season efforts, especially on days with a bit of a northwest wind. Perhaps 10-12 birds, the first double-digit day of the new season, might be counted. Still, you need to be something of a hard-core hawkwatcher to spend all day on a mountain top and only see 10-12 raptors. That would even be a good day in the early season.
Still, a couple of fledged eastern kingbirds and a smart-alec fawn are enough to get me thinking about the fall to come. So what does that say about me?
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6 comments:
It says that the older we get, the faster the year turns around. I love how your blog records the details of your days in your cabin on the mountain, reminding us to look around and really SEE. That way, time slows its march a little.
I say you getting to the point where you had enough of summer and wishing that fall would pick up it's pace
Carolyn: We've been spotting a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers still accompanied by a fledgling in our preserve for the last week.
And, it's not too early to think about fall: we've got about a dozen Bobolinks in our fields, part of the avant garde of the southward migration.
WW: You're right about how fast the seasons turn. When I was a kid summers lasted "forever." Now, by the time I've located my swimsuit, it's Labor Day.
Cathy: I'm always tired of summer after about a week of it. Summer seems too long to me, and fall never long enough.
Scott: That's a cool sighting. I thought I knew where "my" pilieated woodpeckers were nesting but they must have picked another site. They've been notoriously quiet, so I know they are somewhere close, though. I never have bobolinks here--wish I did.
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