A season's changes

Ah, what a difference a day makes. Even just a hint of a breeze from the north or northwest is enough to chase out the humidity that comes on the southern breezes. The temperature is still warm, but the lowered humidity makes it feel about 20 degrees cooler. And best of all, at least from my point of view, the forest may even start to dry out for a novel change.

A few hours of nicer weather, and I’m already plotting visits to hawkwatches and deeper forays into the woods. I am actually thinking about cooking dinner for a change. Perhaps my back forest will dry out enough to start some weed-whacking. Fall is in the air, so close I can smell it.

Around the cabin, the year’s crop of young birds are growing into wild teenagers. Yesterday a young blue jay sat on the door handle of my screen door and screamed at the cat inside. That’s not the kind of thing an adult blue jay would do. I didn’t think the door handle was big enough for a blue jay to perch on.

I am already seeing signs of songbird migration heading to parts south, though Roundtop’s summer residents don’t yet appear to be among them. The pewee still calls in the early morning. The woods are still overcrowded with chipping sparrows. Eastern kingbirds still float across the grassy ski slopes. Swallows and chimney swifts appear to be on the move. Crows too, perhaps, as I seem to be seeing more of them and those frequently moving to the south. Little signs of fall, another one or two each day now, are coming to the mountain.