Fall Migration Is On — Birdchick

I knew I was in trouble in Alaska my first fall. The park starts to shut down mid September and if you live there, you practically have it to yourself. I decided I was going to hike a trail out my front door called the Rock Trail daily until the weather stopped me. I have seen many autumns, but none as spectacular as in Central Alaska. And after a few days of this plan, I realized I was bored on the hike and I couldn’t figure out why. What was wrong with me that I thought that view above was boring? And then I realized what was happening, I wasn’t hearing anything. No birds, no crickets, no katydids, nothing. Dead silence , and then I realized all the birds had left. There were a few cranes and swans flying over still. But the waves of warblers, waterfowl, sparrows, that I’d come to expect over many months in Minnesota they had all left already. Of course, I knew from reading books and articles that breeding seasons were fast and furious in the Arctic. I was living in the Sub Arctic…less than 330 miles south of the Arctic Circle. I realized that it was going to be months of silence…It was late September, I wouldn’t really hear birds again until late April…over six months away.