Autumn's in the air

You can almost smell fall. The leaves really haven’t started turning color but you can tell it won’t be long. There is something about the smell of the crisp cool air, particularly at night, that announces the change of seasons.

September has barely started yet the process has begun. Our migratory songbirds have left for parts south. To our neighbors in Central and South America, it is their birds that are coming home — for these jewels of the forests, meadows and wetlands are only here with us three months out of the year to raise their young.

Have you noticed the squirrels and chipmunks becoming more active? A little red squirrel chattered up a storm at me in our backyard last week as I interrupted his very busy morning of foraging and caching food.

Even the beavers in our pond at Sharon Audubon have joined the act. I have been watching as a pair of beavers have begun sticking fresh twigs in the mud under the water near their lodge. They will use this food stash during the winter when the water has frozen and it is harder for them to move around. It seems awfully early for this type of activity but maybe they know something we don’t.

For me the clincher is the sound of the katydids. This is a familiar late-August sound that continues until the first hard frost. It is a sound that is often taken for granted. Katydids create sounds by rubbing a scraper on one forewing against another forewing. The sound is quintessentially late summer/early fall.

Other signs of fall will become evident as the weeks progress. The gold-and-crimson foliage is just one of them; it’s always wise not to rush things there. As we wait for the vibrant colors of our maples, aspens and oaks to appear, let’s be content watching fall unfold and enjoying the relaxing sounds of the katydid in the crisp night air.

Scott Heth is the director of Audubon Sharon and can be reached at sheth@audubon.org, (subject line: Nature Notes).