Bird
season stayed hot for far too long. Usually there are frosts and cold mornings,
often an inch or two of snow that never sticks around. Not that there aren’t ever
warm days, but just not so many of them as this year.
The
past summer was dry, actually the drought started almost two years ago. As
happens every year, people started talking in August about what the fall
foliage season would look like. Some said the leaves would just turn brown and drop,
others said the colors would be brighter than ever. Every year it is the same
arguments and, honestly, nobody ever seems to know.
What
happened was the leaves turned late and then refused to drop. And the WIND
NEVER BLEW to help loosen them. Two weeks into the month of October the leaves
still clung to the branches, but then reluctantly started to fall.
During
the summer an unusually high number of grouse broods were seen along the roads.
This excited the bird hunters and made us all optimistic. The dry spring may
have wreaked havoc with the gardeners, but it certainly helped the hen grouse
raise those broods. We could not wait to get the dogs in the woods.
And
in October, those birds that seemed to be everywhere in September, just disappeared.
The warm weather made the dogs miserable. It made us miserable too.
Fortunately,
in the middle of the month the weather changed and the grouse came out of their
hiding. About that same time the migrating woodcock showed up. Hunting became
fun again. The birds were in their usual fall places.
Where
had they been the first two weeks of August? Sitting in trees watching the hunters
and their dogs? It certainly was easy to imagine that. I wish I knew.
