This time of year

The wren has packed her bags and left, taking her wren family with her.

I miss her scolding me.

The Robins are mostly gone, we hear a stray one talking once in a while...and we pause to listen to them.

The Morning Doves have been gathering. I think they too have packed their bags and are thinking about migrating out of here.

But the humming birds are still whirring, flitting, and busy as ever.

Last night in the evening sky I saw the first small flock of geese heading south along the Mississippi River.

They say summer ends with Labor Day.
For me, it is when the summer birds have gone, leaving the outside noises to crickets, grasshoppers, the screech of the bluejay, and the cawing of crows.

While walking in the woods with Morris yesterday, we came across a lone dead tree. Perched on it were several turkey buzzards. They migrate also.
What an ugly bird. I checked and both Morris and I were alive ;-).

Turkey buzzards generally are very good indicators that there is a dead animal or carrion nearby.
Perhaps they too were gathering for migration.

The chickadees and cardinals are in the woods and will keep us full of bird song through the fall and winter.

But the light is changing, the nights are getting cold, and fall is heading towards us at full tilt.

Yet I don't think I am prepared for it.
Am I ever?