I really enjoy living in the Rocky Mt West, where the change in seasons is not measured by the calendar but by a subtle “feel”. This past week, nights are getting cooler, the mornings are “crisper” and daylight hours are shorter. Great Horned Owls are more vocal in the evenings & coyotes are “yipping” more. Mule deer & whitetail bucks are reaching the peak of their antlers being in velvet.

The past few days, Yellow Warblers have vacated and House Wrens are vocal & gathering in numbers. I heard a Red-breasted Nuthatch this AM & Black-capped Chickadees are hitting the seed feeder again. Black-headed Grosbeak numbers are decreasing with most feeder visits coming from juveniles now. And, it appears, that only a single juvenile Black-chinned Hummingbird is coming in for nectar. What really tipped me off though, besides the “feel” that fall is coming, was finding a group of 15 or so juvenile, with one adult, Chipping Sparrows in the sagebrush area of our place this morning. Adults in the spring & juveniles in the fall are one my hallmarks of a seasonal change. Fall is on its way!

Brian Carrigan
Blackfoot