The Slide to Autumn

It's hot and muggy this morning. The cumulus clouds are small, but hold the promise the afternoon heat will make them grow into thunderstorms. How many is the bane of the weather forecasters. Yesterday they guessed at a 50 percent coverage. This morning they're predicting 30 percent. The afternoon will settle the forecast, and I'm sure the forecasters have a bet on who was right.

The birds know what's coming. The fledglings that made it look like their parents, and many have been chased away to find their own territory. All are feasting on what they can, and their plumage is starting to change.

This is the first year I paid attention to the hummingbirds. I was curious about the first one to come to the feeder, so I looked at my books, had a hard time finding the bird, and finally realized it was a female black-chinned hummingbird. We're a few hundred miles past it's typical eastern range, so I was looking in the wrong sections.

What I thought was a rare visitor soon turned into two or three females and at least two males. Their range has expanded, or a weather event pushed them into my area. How long they stay is yet to be known, but they're interesting to watch, and hear, since they are constantly chirping as they hover to feed.

This morning, I saw a ruby-throated hummingbird, so the great migration must have started. More will come, the constant bickering over the feeder will be an all day occurrence, and withing a month, they'll start to disappear.

The slide to autumn has begun. The trees are starting to lose their brilliant green, and the leaves will start to change within weeks.  We'll get a cold front in a few weeks, and the oppressive heat of summer will be broken. I'm ready. This summer has been brutal, and I welcome the cooler weather.