Cooler Mornings

The last two mornings it's been in the 30's, not freezing yet but getting close. The nights are clear, lots of moonlight and stars. I'm imagining that birds are starting to migrate, knowing that the moon and stars will help guide their internal navigation. I know they can migrate in any conditions, although stormy conditions do tend  to veer them off course. So these sunny days and cool mornings, clear nights and stars, are part of our last fling of summer, but for the birds, it's probably a signal to leave. We still see a number of juncos, immature white-crowned sparrows and an occasional mature white-crowned, and they will eventually disappear. We are grateful for our steady faithful customers, chickadees of both kinds, gray jays, and Steller jays. Magpies are coming around a bit more this time of year than earlier in the summer. Of course, the cute little nuthatches. And an occasional Myrtle warbler, more likely immature than mature. A redpoll or two. On the Kenai River flats the other day, we spotted a long-tailed jaeger. Also some shorebirds, not sure what they were, now that their breeding plumage is gone, plus probably we're seeing immatures as well. We think they were Hudsonian godwits. The season is changing.