Fall arrives!

Fall arrived here on Sunday morning, September 7, 2014.

Of course, I know that’s not the official start of fall.

On Saturday evening, the air was still muggy, a situation even worse than humid. Worse, than muggy, the air was cloying. I’ll bet fish could have breathed that air.
 

But when I woke up on Sunday morning, it was cool and clear, that kind of crystalline clarity that comes in September and heralds a new season. In the space of a mere 8 hours, the season changed.  I had no easing of summer into fall this year.  No sirree, it happened fast!

It’s true that Roundtop still looks like summer, but that will soon change. I spent a few hours watching fall migration on Sunday, though that was slow. The weather change likely happened too late in the day to incite many songbirds to move south overnight. And the daytime migrants probably didn’t start with the crack of dawn, likely taking time to have a bit of breakfast before heading south.
 

Even so, I saw a few migrating birds—tree swallows mostly. The other birds I saw—Red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures—could easily have been local birds, despite their altitude in a clear blue sky. More likely, this evening I’ll notice something new, something only migration could bring near my cabin. It’s an exciting time of year, and I never tire of it