After a record hot Labor Day weekend (and a very hot, dry summer), the high temperatures around here dropped about 20 degrees, and suddenly all the fall feelings came with it. The soundtrack changed too. In the early mornings and evenings I now hear flocks of geese and Sandhill Cranes flying overhead.
Leaves are already starting to turn colors on some trees (about two weeks early) and that’s probably because they are stressed due to drought. It’s not going to be a very good leaf-peeping year—in dry years the leaves tend to have very muted colors or just turn brown rather than show off the brilliant reds, yellows and oranges that look gorgeous against a bright blue fall sky.
My birdfeeders are suddenly very popular as birds start to flock up for migration and/or are pooped out because of their late-summer molting period.
The birds that spend their summers in Canada and Northern Wisconsin are already moving through here as well. I spied an Ovenbird using the birdbath on that hot Labor Day weekend. I wasn’t able to get any photos in time, but I did capture a quick grainy “proof of life” photo of a warbler that same morning—this is a Tennessee Warbler. This little bird is on his way to Central America, or if he’s even more ambitious, South America to spend winter. Then he’ll pass through here again next spring on his way to Canada for breeding season.
