Sunday, September 7

Summer is slowly sliding into autumn. Our leaves haven’t started changing but there is a distinct feel in the air. We had a couple hot days, with Friday being downright oppressive. After last winter I’ll still take hot over bitter cold. Eighty-five degrees with humidity is uncomfortable, minus 20 degrees hurts. Hot is all right, you just need to take it easy. I saw numerous people take about three steps out of a building and then stop and snap their head back like they were kicked in the chest. You could just feel that something was going to happen. Sure enough, a cold front blew in Friday evening. Lise and I stood in the garage and watched Biblical scale rain come down. I was expecting a boat load of animals and a guy wearing robes to come floating down the street. At least the front knocked the temperatures down to a pleasant 65 degrees.

Another benefit of a cold front during bird migration is that it forces the nocturnal migrants down. So Lise, Barb, and I hit Fenner Nature Center for some Saturday morning birding. It was great. We hit several waves of warblers. I got five new species for the year and Lise got three. The only down side is that the little varmints are in their non-breeding plumage. And they don’t sit still. And they’re usually high up in a tree and partially hidden by vegetation. We call this fun.

Lise and I got out again today, helping a local conservancy to plan a trail on their property. It was a beautiful day to be out. The only down side was bushwhacking through a chest high soaking wet prairie. A small price to pay to be out on a great morning. Also got a lance-tipped darner, my first of the year.

Lance-tipped darner. Handheld with a big lens so not a great photo.

Haven’t had much time for photography so I played a little, converting some older pictures to black and white. These were some quick conversions, without much editing.