One blog I have wanted to write since August is “A Little Night Music”, wherein we delve into trying to sort out the trills, from the striations, from the thrumming, from the buzzing sounds of crickets and grasshoppers.
When this topic came to mind, they were making a near deafening racket out my window as “guy meets girl” antics among the Orthopterians was in full swing. Now many voices have dropped out. One could cheerfully assume those quiet ones had managed to meet and mate and were now depositing their grasshopper eggs into the hard packed ground somewhere. But many still continue to call. We won’t think of these as the losers who still haven’t found that certain someone, but perhaps, the late bloomers who came into their adult, able-to-sing-with-their-legs-or-wings, age later than the others did. I do hope to get to this topic though before the first frost when the final curtain goes down on this chorus.
Another, would have been about the fabulous tornado, hurricane, blizzard of swallows that is now, as we speak, present on the dunes of Sandy Neck. About a week or two ago their presence on the bog suddenly ended and my small group most likely became part of the now 1,000’s of tree swallows swooping up one side and down the other of this nearby barrier beach system. I did get to go twice and both times had that thrill of being rushed over by hundreds of wings.
Once was with my granddaughter and my family. When you are almost two, digging in the sand and singing little sand songs is still more riveting than nearly being collided with by hundreds of swallows. If you are on the Cape, I think you may have another week or two to see the show. If you live somewhere along the East Coast, they will be coming to a bayberry covered beach near you in the coming weeks as they make their way south, snacking on the way.
“Who Has Seen the Wind?” is also is waiting to get properly put on paper. We have had such wild windy days of late, that I realize the inanimate elements in nature are just as exciting and glorious as the rest of the animate picture. The hurricane that was a “no show” of a few weeks ago, seems to have met its match in these days where no forecasts mentions anything but “breezy” weather, but just keeping ones footing has seemed challenging. A Christina Rossetti poem keeps rattling in my mind on this one.
And then, one called, “Just an Observation”. Each day we all make observations, something catches our eye out the window, or along a walk, and we stop and watch awhile, and a little bit of life shows itself. Not that we always understand what we are seeing, but being the brainy, human types that we are, I think most of us begin to guess at what is going on. Sometimes we may be right, sometimes completely wrong and other times just stumped. But whichever way, they are observations and they do make the groundwork for the things we learn.
On my walks that happen earlier in the morning, I have been noticing less bird activity then when I go a little later. Of course with nesting and raising the kids done, perhaps there is no real reason to crack the dawn with love songs, or be out there catching the early worm. When I would see my little flock of swallows, it was more likely to be when the sun had been up for awhile. Which, when I think of it, makes sense if you are an insect eater, because insects need the world to warm up a bit to lift up on those warm columns of air, so the ones who eat them might get to sleep in a bit too. I have also been noticing that when robins are in their larger flocks getting ready to migrate, they are one, easily excited, group of birds. Normally they are so “live and let live” with each other, but get them in a gang and much more swooping and chasing goes on. A crazy amount really. A true ornithologist would know why no doubt. Extra zippy hormones kicking in to get them pumped for the long trip ahead maybe? I don’t know, but with the flocks I see it is easy to observe.
Now, those are the topics, if I can just find some time. And not get distracted by new topics that will present themselves with each walk. Fall is one of our busiest times at the nature center. So many classes to teach, so many to prepare for. This week I think I have the joy of doing about 8 classes on microscopic pond life, starting with daphnia and copepods. If you have been reading this blog since last spring, you may remember the “Cuckoo for Copepods” one, which explains what a “joy” it is to sort through pond water for just the right kind of copepod. Actually, it IS fun, but time consuming. OK, times up. Edit, copy, add pictures, print and done.
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