Following a long, extremely hot and exhausting summer, the longer nights and local elevation are finally bringing an overnight chill to the Front Range. It dropped to 49 degrees F in Littleton this morning.
Refreshing for us humans, the cooler air also energized our avian residents and visitors. Seemingly more abundant but surely just more active, they were in celebration mode, moving rapidly among the trees and shrubs. In addition to our more common residents, I encountered a Say's phoebe and a pair of red-breasted nuthatches; though they are now permanent residents along the Front Range urban corridor, the distinctive yanks of the latter birds will always be associated with autumn in my mind. A lone broad-tailed hummingbird was also zooming about the property but I suspect he'll head south within another week or so.
Finally, just before returning to the house, a squadron of Canada geese flew low over the farm, honking loudly in the morning chill. Though common here in all seasons, they never fail to awaken my boyhood memories of massive flocks, moving high above our Cincinnati home in the cold, clear, autumn sky.
