Winter is coming :-(

On Monday when I was out for a walk I saw a huge flock of purple martins (60-70) just down the street from the house. I had noticed that there seemed to be quite a few more martins and swallows swooping around the yard in the last few days as well.

On Tuesday when I went outside there was nary a bird in the vicinity. So it looks like the martins have headed south for the winter. Now this isn’t too unnatural. Normally martins start heading south about mid August. So if anything, they are a few days later than normal. However, this event is one of the first indications that the summer is drawing to a close and we will be moving to autumn. I’m hoping we have a nice long warm autumn this year. Up to Christmas would be just about right !

So today (Thursday) I heard a large commotion in the backyard. Looking outside there were about 24-30 martins swooping and diving in the yard. The flock stayed for about an hour and then they were gone.

I was speaking to the sis-in-law and she too has had a large influx of birds to her yard. One minute they are there and the next they are gone. So it looks like they haven't all headed south yet, however, they are getting all together to make the mad dash for warmer climes.

The flock in the backyard today may have been the last of the birds. It looked as if they were just checking out the birdhouse to ensure there were no stragglers still in resident. Then they were gone.

We'll see in the next few days....