Good morning everyone! It’s a beautiful, sunny, summer morning once again. The number of forest fires has gone down again to just 101 now, 21 are either under control or being held, and 80 are not under control and most of those they are just letting burn since they pose no threat to people or property. We are supposed to get some substantial rain on the weekend, instead of just showers or thunderstorms, so that will help to dampen the forest fire problem. It will also end our present heat and basically it means the end of our summer as we now transition into autumn. Even now the yellow and orange is showing up in many trees, but not in a big way yet, just a reminder that fall is coming very soon.

evening there was another sign of fall coming, there were hundreds of ring-billed gulls flying around, something they do this time of year and then most of the older birds head out further onto the lake for a time. From there they head to Lake Superior where many will spend the winter. But ring-billed gulls will stay here too, mostly younger birds, until well into November some years. It just depends how early winter arrives. They stay late because the lake doesn’t freeze usually until mid November or later. That’s the nice thing about living next to a larger lake, it does make the area close to the lake a bit milder. Then there was another sign of fall approaching last evening as well. There were thousands of nighthawks flying, filling the sky above us as they were heading south.

It didn’t always look like they were going south, they flew around in every direction, but once nightfall hit they would be going south. They’re our first birds to head south. It’s quite something to watch all those birds. I even tried for some pictures, like I do every year, without any success. They fly too fast and too erratic to get pictures. I could have tried for a video I suppose, but I wanted an actual photo. They have one main day, or night really, that they all leave each year. This is in the normal time range for them to leave, sometimes they can be earlier or, rarely, later. Nighthawks are not hawks, but are insect eating birds and very nice to have around. They are about the last to arrive in late May or early June, and the first to leave in mid August. So they are only here about 2 and a half months. Well, I must go for now, have a wonderful day everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2021 Steve McLeod.