[EBB Sightings] annual ritural

Dear Birders:

Around September 15 each year I start listening for the first Golden-crowned Sparrows -- the surest sign that fall is here.  After 'wetting my whistle' with a cup of coffee, I walk up the street headed for the gate that overlooks Lawrence Hall of Science and the hillside that slopes steeply down to the oak/bay woodland along the upper reaches of Strawberry Creek.  I whistle and listen, whistle and listen.  Even my neighbors who do not count themselves as bird watchers take note.  "Is it that time of year again?" was the comment of another early morning walker.

Other signs of fall abound: the orb weavers are fattening in their webs; more gold leaves each day appear on the bigleaf maples in the canyon; tree cricket choruses tune up after dark which is coming earlier each evening.  And you can't help but notice the changing light itself -- longer shadows and a deepening color that brings a new richness to the landscape.

Most years, you can count on seeing the first Golden-crowns by the last week of the month.  But a few years back, they didn't show up on schedule -- not until the first week of October -- and letters to the editor of the SF Chroncle asked "Where are they?" 

More than ever in these troubling times, we need the reassurances that the natural world brings.

--Phila Rogers