Birds in transition.

Fall is coming, and with it, the arrival and departure of some of our most-loved backyard birds. Today, our friend Rudy, who’s a “counter” at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in nearby Kempton, PA—i.e., an expert birder who tracks the identity and number of birds migrating over the Kittatinny Ridge, of which Hawk Mountain is a part—called our friend Ben and Silence Dogood to check in, see how we were doing, and see if our Wednesday Night Supper Club was on or, since our hosts Carolyn and Gary are deeply involved with the Oley Valley Fair, which opens tomorrow, if we’re skipping a week.

Sad but true, we’re skipping this week’s get-together. (But please don’t pity Silence and OFB; tonight’s menu includes baked sweet potatoes, creamy pasta, green beans, and a huge, luscious salad, possibly with a dessert of grilled peaches and cream. We’ll miss the good company, of course, but otherwise I think we’ll survive.)

OFB was out walking our black German shepherd puppy Shiloh in the Independent Park that our township has generously opened just down the road from us when Rudy called, so I, Silence, took the call. Of course I asked Rudy what he’s seen while he was up on Hawk Mountain monitoring migrants, and he said the most notable birds right now are warblers, perhaps 20 species, heading South.

I pointed out in turn that we still have ruby-throated hummingbirds at our rose-of-Sharon flowers (Rudy says all of his have already migrated South); our goldfinches, year-round residents, are still gold; and we’ve suddenly started seeing chickadees, doubtless coming down for the winter and recalling our feeders. Doubtless our cardinals, juncos, sparrows, woodpeckers, bluejays, and other winter residents are on the way.  We’re looking forward to seeing them!

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