Fall is here...

This morning I was going to check out the reports of a Cackling Goose but the waters of the West River, the Retreat Meadow and adjacent cornfield were oddly quiet - no honking cacophony. The hundreds of the agitated and restless Canada Geese present over the past several weeks seemed to finally have taken off on their southward journey. I counted just 5 geese standing on a log in the West River.

From the Hogle Refuge off Eaton Ave I saw a duck-like bird with huge orange feet busily grooming itself. Because of the feet I did not recognize it at first, but on closer inspection realized that it was a female Common Merganser stopping over on its migration. I hadn't seen one all summer nor have I ever seen one standing up out of the water.

Off in the shallow water a rather dishevelled looking juvenile Great Blue Heron was slowly stalking about looking for something edible.

The quiet was pierced by the strident cries of a Killdeer. I searched the sky and indeed the bright white stripe on the wings and the orange rump of the fast flying, twisting and turning bird confirmed that it was a Killdeer.


It's a raw cold day today. I had to turn the heat on for a couple hours to warm up the house. Fall is undeniably here.