AUTUMN MIGRATIONS FROM OUR DECK

      In the late afternoon of August 15, 2021, I was enjoying the lovely weather and scenery of sky, trees and grass from our back deck.  Suddenly, I saw two large, black birds soaring fairly low over our neighborhood.  I thought "black vultures, eagles"?  But no, they were common ravens floating over our suburban house in New Holland, a southeastern Pennsylvania town surrounded by farmland.  Through 16 power binoculars I watched those stately birds swirl upward together on a column of warmed air, higher and higher, with nary a wing beat, until they were nearly invisible to the southwest.  It was then I started my annual autumn migration watch from our deck.

     For the last few years, including the present one, I've been watching the fall migration of birds and insects from our deck that faces east and northeast.  I watch for about and hour and a half most every late afternoon through September and October.  

     Autumn migrations can be observed from anywhere, including on mountain tops, fields and lawns.  Just be outside at the right time.  Over the last few years, I've seen many birds and insects migrating south or southwest over our house. 

     Wind encourages hawks and eagles to migrate.  Wind direction determines what route they take.  West and northwest winds pushing up southwest running ridges push those raptors up, so they follow the ridges in those winds.  But raptors scatter off the ridges during south and southwest winds, but still head south and southwest.  

     During the latter two weeks of August and into early September, 2021, I saw some migrating creatures from our suburban deck.  I counted 14 monarch butterflies fluttering by, one at a time, two green darner dragonflies zipping through, and a few small groups each of barn swallows, tree swallows and chimney swifts sweeping south and catching flying insects on the wing as they went.     

     While watching for migrants from our deck, I admire the beauties of large, puffy-white cumulus clouds in an otherwise blue sky.  Those clouds are forever changing shapes at the whim of winds.  With imagination, I see an endless variety of objects in those cottony, sun-filled clouds.  And those white clouds highlight the silhouettes of hawks, eagles and other migrating critters better than the blue sky does, making them easier to spot.

     Early in September of 2021, I saw three migrant ruby-throated hummingbirds, one at a time, buzzing on our lawn.  Two of them stayed a bit to sip nectar from planted flowers.  And one late afternoon toward the end of September I saw a group of fifteen blue jays winging over and going straight southwest.  There will be more migrant jays in October.

     I didn't see many migrating hawks and saw no bald eagles in August and September of 2021.  But I did see two dashing peregrine falcons, two speeding merlins, all one at a time, one American kestrel and one northern harrier.  These are open-country birds that may have been attracted to farmland around New Holland, where they might snare pigeons, doves, sparrows and mice.

     During September, the last few years I have seen an occasional stately bald eagle and osprey soaring elegantly southwest over our deck.  And I've spotted a few small flocks of broad-winged hawks spiraling upward in thermals of warmed, rising air, then streaming away in a line over cropland to the southwest. 

     Once in September of 2019, I saw a loose group of five nighthawks swooping erratically over our neighborhood.  They were catching flying insects as they pushed southwest.  

     It's interesting to see migrating birds and insects from one's own home, wherever it may be.  Get out in autumn and watch the sky for enjoyable, educational times in nature.         

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