Song Sparrow.
This has been the kind of day I love: cloudy, crisp, colorful, autumn.
I had a college football game to watch at noon, so I took Jack with me to Beech Hill in mid-morning. Nobody else was there when we arrived. Nobody, that is, if you’re not counting birds. Yellow-rumps everywhere, scores of them. A calling Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Singing Song Sparrow and Eastern Towhee. Even saw a bluebird and heard a Golden-crowned Kinglet.
October rose.
Certainly a migration event occurring: en route to the hill I spied a large flock of small birds flying in a tight formation—not sure what they were. The cold front that settled in overnight brought a lot of stuff down from north of us.
But the yellow-rumps, wow. Yellow-rumps everywhere.
Before a few others showed up on the hill, I stood quietly with Jack at the summit, overlooking the eastern fields. Just seeing the colorful fall foliage all around down there, bright against the gray, and feeling the sharpness of the cold air in my fingers, and thinking how wonderful life is. And it occurred to me that I don’t know what it is about the fall—the foliage, the feel of the air, the diminishing light, the smell—that thrills me so. And others. What is it?
It’s not the actual reds and golds. It’s not the actual smells. It’s something beyond the feel of the air—some combination of all. It’s something beyond our senses, something like a genetic memory. It’s a time to be nervous, to get busy, to feel confident that our species can somehow survive another winter. Because we were made that way.
I don’t know. I certainly can’t explain it. But I do love fall. It is my favorite season.
P.S. The football game didn’t go so well. But Hook ’em Horns anyway.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 10 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Yellow-rumped Warbler
2. White-breasted Nuthatch
3. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
4. White-throated Sparrow
5. Blue Jay
6. American Crow
7. American Goldfinch
8. House Finch
9. Song Sparrow
10. Northern Flicker
11. American Robin
12. Eastern Towhee
13. Golden-crowned Kinglet
14. Black-capped Chickadee
15. Eastern Bluebird
16. Canada Goose
Elsewhere
17. House Sparrow
18. Herring Gull
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
