Steve’s Country Cabin Journal #3.

Hello everyone and welcome back! Fall is here and very visible. Though many trees and small bushes have already lost their leaves, there is still a lot of golden color around to enjoy. And with today’s sunshine all that yellow and gold is very bright. And everywhere there are yards covered with leaves, something that a lot of people don’t really enjoy. But it does have a certain beauty to it and always seems to give a relaxing atmosphere to a home. Soon parents will be out raking the leaves into huge piles and kids will be there to help by jumping into those piles of leaves. Even some adults enjoy doing that.

There are still large flocks of geese flying south in their typical “V” formation. Periodically they change positions in that “V” so that they all get their turn at the front and the back. Most summer birds are gone from our area, just a few of the hardier ones remain, and they won’t be here much longer either. Juncos are one of the main birds that are still brave enough to stick around. Many of them will stay until there is snow on the ground, then they take off quickly heading to milder areas. But they are a slow migrating bird, they just don’t seem to be in much of a hurry to leave. They are cute and very friendly little birds. They have kind of a ‘tick, tick’, or ‘chip, chip’ sound as they rummage through the leaves looking for seeds, or even the occasional insect, to eat.

And there is always other different species of sparrows mixed in with them, usually the white-throated, white-crowned, Harris’, fox and tree sparrows. Tree sparrows are also slow in their migrating. With the juncos they are one of the last to leave and first to come back in the spring. They only go as far south as they have to so that they have abundant food and don’t have to worry about much snow. They can handle living in snowy places as long as the food is abundant.

I have had juncos and tree sparrows stay all winter at my feeders, but the cold is hard on them. There are a lot of black-capped chickadees around now, staying around nearly all day eating sunflower seeds. There is also a white-breasted nuthatch that comes daily, usually in the afternoon and at least one red-breasted nuthatch. More of these should show up as the weather turns colder.

As I look out my south window the golden leaves of the birch and maple are waving in the sunlight, perhaps saying good bye for another year. Looking out my west window the trees are already bare and have been for awhile. Even those bare branches project a kind of beauty with their twisted and curved branches going in every direction. But they are also a reminder of another season coming up, that of winter. Even winter has it’s beauty, even though it is a harsh and cold season. The sun continues to shine in it’s bright beauty also providing us with such a wonderful and peaceful autumn day. I do hope your day is wonderful as well, and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2020 Steve McLeod.