natureswondersbyclyde

     Late October into November in southeastern Pennsylvania has a special, wild feeling rather than the warm, easy feeling of summer and early fall.  The sun is now low in the southern sky all day and daylight each succeeding day continues to get shorter.  The sun now appears to be setting as early as 3:30 P.M.  The average temperature per day is lower and the air is crisp and fresh, unlike the uncomfortable humidity of summer and early fall.  All this is a dramatic change that indicates that winter is approaching.         From late October, into November, green evergreen trees slowly become more visible as curtains of innumerable, warm-colored deciduous leaves fall to the ground, reminding me of a snowfall.  It's fun to kick through multi-colored, leafy carpets of dead, fallen foliage on the ground.       Most conifers are planted in southeastern Pennsylvania, mostly on lawns, in parks and elsewhere.  But in the bleak of late autumn and winter, they remind me of wild conifers in

     In the last few years, from early September to early November, I have been watching for a variety of migrating birds and insects from our back deck in New Holland, Pennsylvania.  Our deck is not a good place to look for fall migrants, but it is as good as any other spot in a lowland suburb.  Migrants could be anywhere, and they are exciting to see, wherever they may be.        I don't watch every day and I only look for migrants a couple of hours in the afternoons when I am on the deck.  But I've seen some interesting birds and insects during the limited times I'm "on duty".       I have seen a few each of bald eagles and ospreys migrating over our deck to the southwest, and a variety of hawks as well.  I have seen a few sharp-shinned hawks rocketing over, and a few merlins, all of which zipped by individually.  One of the merlins perched on top of our spruce tree, before continuing on.  During a couple of Septembers, I saw little groups of broad-winged hawks