Bring on Fall Migration
October 6, 2024
Ah, the first big cold front of the season has arrived! It was 42 degrees (F) when I arrived at the lake Wednesday morning with winds blowing from the north. I needed a coat and mittens but I was as excited as a kid on Christmas to see what the winds might blow in.
There was a definite influx of flickers and blue jays. Though these birds are year-round here, their numbers grow in the fall. Blue jays will migrate in fairly large flocks and once or twice I have found a dozen flickers together on the ground scrounging for insects.
There were dozens, maybe hundreds, of chimney swifts passing way up high overhead. Every few minutes a new group would go over. With the north winds blowing they were riding the wind and not stopping for anything.
I forgot what I know, that it’s not always the day with the big north winds when I see my fall friends up close. It’s often the next day, when the wind dies or turns slightly back from the south that the birds stop and hang out a bit rather than continuing quickly on their way. So it was Thursday when the big surprises arrived.
Thursday morning it was 60 degrees (F) with calm winds, no need for a coat this day. As I arrived I scanned the lake and to my delight I saw what looked like a line of 26 white mops way out on the lake - pelicans!! Pelicans are a rare treat. Would they come in to see me?
The first birds in near the shore were the ring-billed gulls. Well, that’s not quite true, the turkey vultures and crows were there before I arrived. The ring-billed gulls came in next. Their numbers have grown from a handful in August and September to several dozen this week. Ring-billed gulls are loud, obnoxious, unruly, and generally unconcerned with human presence. They are also not easily spooked by the turkey vultures.
Ring-billed gulls get a bad rap, but they are my constant winter companions and they often show other birds it’s safe to come in near the shore. As they arrive in bigger numbers with lots of juveniles in the group, the games begin - specifically, “king of the buoy” and “chase the guy with the fish”. Ring-billed gulls are entertaining!
I heard a noise out on the lake that alerted me to a flock of a few hundred Franklin’s gulls. These gulls are smaller than the ring-billed gulls and they are one of my favorite parts of October. I start to dream of a day like we had last year when there were more than 10,000! You can see the video from that day in this post:
Franklin’s gulls like to take off, land, and swirl as one big flock. Individual birds all flying in some sort of choreographed dance. It never gets old watching them lift up from the water and land again.
No matter how few or how many, when Franklin’s gulls come close I find them delightful. I’d describe them as that friend who is actually tough as nails but everyone thinks they are dainty and just the sweetest person on Earth - the kind of person who makes a marvelous friend.
As I was watching the Franklin’s gulls, I heard the unmistakable screech of a Caspian tern. It took me a few minutes to find the terns in the midst of all the gulls. I’m glad they announced their presence so loudly, otherwise I’d probably have missed them! Caspian terns dive for fish much like osprey and watching them plummet into the water is spectacular every time.
As I was photographing a Caspian tern, I dropped the camera down briefly to check the settings - and saw a pelican flying straight towards me about 20 yards away! Three pelicans were circling the shore where I was standing and they flew right over my head before deciding to land further out in the cove.
Pelicans are enormous birds, far bigger than the turkey vultures or great blue herons. If the swallows are like fighter jets, pelicans are the cargo tankers of the bird world. Seeing one at twenty feet as it comes towards me in the air, noticing the softness of the feathers on the outside of a tanker, seeing the orange dinosaur feet up close, is jaw-dropping and exhilarating.
Yellow-rumped warblers, American coots, northern shovelers, osprey, and egrets are all arriving. The mornings have been quiet the last few weeks but hopefully we will have many more busy days this month. The colorful birds have mostly gone but the black, white, and brown birds of fall and winter are just getting started.
Sometimes, I marvel at how steady I’ve become with my camera in exciting moments, how naturally I maintain my composure with a large bird flying directly at me, how I’ve learned to be steady and still in nature. Sometimes, I remember the woman who was scared to walk on a paved nature trail by herself a decade ago, who didn’t know the first thing about camera settings, and who didn’t know how to identify a chickadee.
Every time I doubt myself, I really need to bring up these images of the woman I was then and the woman I am now. I really can do anything my heart is set on. I really can change, the proof is right here on the page.
Sending love to all of you who are in the midst of challenges and changes big and small. Wishing you the gift of remembering how you’ve weathered every challenge and change before and knowing you can do it again.
As always, this is a very special place in Substack land. Quiet, exuberant, happy, reflective, by turns, but always an abiding friendliness...
Lovely in every way!