August 2004

23 August 2004

This week’s cold rain sets my mind to thinking about changes. Before these refreshing showers August was simply a continuation of July. But the break in summer weather serves as a reminder of what’s to come and brings a new awareness of the meaning of recent signs only half seen: birds of various types with missing feathers changing slowly into their winter costumes, mornings made quiet by the absence of bird song (all attention is now focused on raising young – no time for self-praise or claiming new lands), bushtits and sparrows no longer in small family units and once again in their gregarious foraging flocks. By week’s end it will once again feel like summer, but things are different now -- change is in the air.