Well, that wasn't a lot of fun...

As far as the weather goes, this past weekend was as nasty as it gets without being an ice storm, a tornado or a flood. Most nor’easters move up the coast quickly and don’t affect the local weather for 3.5 days. This time a cold, hard, wind-driven rain fell continuously, and the temperature ranged between 35-38.

As soon as the rain lessened to a drizzle on Sunday morning, I was out with my camera. The forecast was for more wind, and I was afraid the fall colors would disappear before I could see them. The rain finally let up for good in the mid-morning, and within 5-10 minutes the sky was alive with birds. The turkey vultures were even aloft before the rain completely stopped. The poor things were probably starving and seemed to spend the entire storm sitting in dead trees and looking miserable.

Within moments after the rain stopped, the sky filled with south-bound Canada geese. I don’t know where they were sheltering from the storm, perhaps along the Susquehanna River, but in any event many big flocks were moving south throughout the morning and into the afternoon. They wasted no time getting aloft, probably figuring they had waited too long as it was.

During the storm my bird feeders were largely empty. It was as though the cabin birds didn’t want to come out of wherever they were hiding. I now suspect they simply weren’t eating much at all. I noticed that even my chickens didn’t eat or drink their usual amount during the storm, and they were largely sheltered from the weather and had food and water readily available.

But once the storm cleared, the feeder was soon full of birds who soon emptied it. The chickens were the same. And it’s not just birds that are suddenly out and about. This morning a fox crossed the road in front of me as I drove off Roundtop, and it was carrying something large, I think a rabbit, as it did so. It seems that humans and beasts and fowl are all taking advantage of the clearing weather.

I took today's photo at Gifford Pinchot State Park, just a few miles from the cabin. Even though the weather has now cleared, you can expect more fall rain photos this week. It's once again gotten too dark to take photos during the week, so I have to take a week's worth on the weekends.