Outdoors

The first two days of fall brought quite a few migrating birds to Evergreen Lake. A cold front moving down out of Canada brought cold rain followed by the first snow. I am not ready for snow yet and hope we may still have some Indian summer weather.

There is definitely a hint of autumn in the air and in other places, too. Yes, the cool dawn air is sweet, clean and sharp from our cold nights.

The rising sun is welcome and warming, but afternoon showers soon cool things off again. There are signs of fall, also.The first aspen tree in the valley below our house has turned golden and is now beginning to lose its leaves. The grasses are ripening their seed heads, so our hillside is now a warm tawny tan, with splotches of green from weeds and bits of red from wood beauty cinquefoil and wild roses.

Every year in late August, I receive phone calls from readers who want to know about a large brown baby bird that is being fed by a much smaller parent. This is usually a chipping sparrow or a gray-headed junco locally, but it may be almost any smaller bird. Brown-headed cowbirds arrive in the spring about March 1 and are the only bird in America that does not build its own nest. They come to feeders regularly because they prefer millet to all other grain. They watch the other birds to see where they are building nests, and when the rightful owner of the nest is away, they deposit an egg.

The lake is calm and peaceful this morning. Some 37 Canada geese are resting on the sandbar. Among them, a few double-crested cormorants jostle for room. A light breeze is rippling the surface of the lake, and the path of Bear Creek can be seen by the dark streak running across the ripples like a smooth black ribbon.