Overnight...

Fall is happening fast! On Saturday morning I was thinking that the autumn color change hadn’t moved very much over the past few days. Then on Sunday morning everything looked different, a lot different. A couple of cool nights moved the color change along quickly. Literally overnight the color change was dramatically further along. Here on the mountain, the peak of the color change is likely still a full week away, but today I don’t think it will be much further past that.

Fall is moving in other ways, too. This weekend I saw the first dark-eyed junco of the new season and the first white-throated sparrow. For a few moments I had a junco and a robin in the same little tree, giving me momentary hope that I might photograph the two together. Alas, that was not to be. Ruby-crowned kinglets are also moving through, and over the weekend I didn’t find any chipping sparrows, though I was seeing them by the dozens just a day or so before.

Overnight temperatures are now dropping into the lower 40’s, but the days still often reach 60 for about 90 seconds in the late afternoon before dropping again. The chill of mid-fall is here, and I’m enjoying the cooler temperatures. It’s odd, but fall this year seems to be moving more quickly than usual. Perhaps it’s because the summer wasn’t a hot one, so the temperatures didn’t have as far to fall as normal. I’m suddenly feeling the rush to do my outdoor fall chores and get the cabin and the chickens ready for winter. The shortening hours of daylight aren’t helping me with my chores. I always think I will get more done than I actually accomplish. I suppose it’s like this every year, though I’m suddenly feeling more rushed than I was just a week or so ago.