Patience

October 8, 2023

Sunrise, October 6, 2023

Patience. Waiting through a warm September for the first real cold front of the year. My excitement builds as it approaches. North winds blow. “Birdcast” tells me they are on the move. I get out the wool hat and mittens, though just the light ones for now.

I think squirrel is excited for fall too!

Patience. The cold front came, the temperatures dropped and there are birds who were not here before. Some. A few hundred Franklin’s gulls stubbornly hanging out in the middle of the lake. A stray tern or two, a few pied-billed grebes. Not the jaw-dropping flocks I pictured in my mind even though I tried not to. It’s like telling a child on Christmas Eve not to get “too excited”.

Excited like a red-headed woodpecker with an acorn!

Patience. This is exactly how it goes. I’ve been reminding myself for weeks that fall migration is slow. Nature has her own timetable and my best mornings are never the ones I “predict”. They are always surprises, often on the days I least expect. Fall migration is long and it has barely begun.

Where are they - where are the birds? Oh, you mean us? (So many migrating flickers right now!)

Patience. I have had some fun experiences the past two days and I want to get the photos and videos to you with the stories NOW! I want to show SOMEONE, tell SOMEONE, GET IT OUT THERE. Yet it takes time to process the photos and videos and my posts always lag behind “real” time.

For instance, there’s a pelican story coming but I have to sift through 200 photos to curate the best!

Patience. As the sunrise moves back I enjoy waking up and not needing to rush out the door. Starting my day a little slower is luxurious! On the other hand, by the time I get home the morning is half gone and I feel a sense of being behind all day. When I’m out I just want to keep walking, seeing what else might show up in the next tree. This time of year the time “out there” takes priority and the time “in here” lags behind.

Oh to be more like the tiny frog who’s warm time was coming to an end and yet he was still just enjoying the moment.

Patience. I just finished the September photos last week and it’s ok to share those today. The October photos will get started soon enough. No one is pressing me, only my own expectations. It’s ok to take my time, I will still be enough.

Fall is the time when a juvenile peregrine falcon might swoop over my head near sunrise if I’m lucky - and I was!

Patience. Every season has its challenges. Every season has its joys. The challenge of fall is to linger with it, to dance on the slow, winding path of surprises. If spring is a rush of energy, fall is a languid walk watching leaves gently fall from trees.

“The road goes ever on and on…” (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Patience. I whisper to my inner child over and over, “Don’t worry child, there is time enough. Slow down. Dance a little. You will get to tell your stories and those you forget were only meant for you anyway. Soon. Soon.”

The full moon last week riding on a bed of clouds.

An ongoing paradox for me is when I have the best stories to tell I have the least time to tell them! I need to develop a more reliable method for jotting down the bones of a story for writing at a later time. Meanwhile I have so many photos from last week so I’m just going to let them tell the rest of the story!

I love the egrets so much! In the fall they hang out here a lot longer than in the spring.

Egrets make it my job easy, with those stunning plumes.

This little guy was making my life easy too! I don’t see a lot of red-headed woodpeckers. Confused by the lack of a red-head? This is a juvenile! He will get his red head feathers soon enough.

There were a lot of late-season butterflies before the cold front, including this red admiral.

Plenty of sunshine still hanging around in the yellow flowers too! I love goldenrod.

My little spotted sandpiper friend announcing the start of shorebird season. Hope his relatives follow!

More colors coming soon, with a little luck!