Month: September 2012

At the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union booth at the State Fair my fellow booth person was so into birds it was silly. Silly as balls. He was a gay homosexual who in addition to shopping for drapes (probably) loved to hike all the major wildlife areas in the metro. He could distinguish ten different nondescript fall warblers from thirty feet away while I would just be all, "DURR THEY’RE LITTLE BROWN JOBS." All kinds of people stopped by, including kids who loved birds, parents who loved birds, and people who knew absolutely nothing about birds but were still eager and enthusiastic to learn more. They came with photos of a mystery bird (it was obviously a green heron) and stories of birds that had haunted their yard ever since they chopped down the bird’s favorite tree. They came with backgrounds in hunting or in healthcare or in ornithology, and were all just naturally curious.

Then at Hawk Ridge in Duluth I chatted with birders who were positively tanned to hell from counting hawks for two months straight. They showed such excitement over merlins, sharp-shinned hawks, peregrine falcons, Cooper’s hawks, kestrels, etc. that I felt like they were my people and I had finally found them.

Included: those beautiful, beautiful people (though at the time they were swarming with bird parasites) and me at Snowflake in Duluth.

A glorious run in Theodore Wirth park today. The temperature was 70 or 75 F, the air was dry, and I basically had the place to myself. Although it still feels pretty warm, I could see many leaves were already changing to yellow, and a lot of the underbrush is drying up and turning brown. The growing season is apparently over. The wildlife was silent or had absconded, except for traces such as a decapitated mouse I found in the middle of the trail. Maybe an owl took its head off the previous night. I broke in a new pair of running shoes, stopped to look at a small creek, listened to a neat podcast. It was perfect.

I feel silly admitting that this run was inspired when I picked up a copy of "Trail Runner" magazine. These lifestyle magazines draw you in with glossy pictures and make you feel like part of the "trail running community" as if there were such a thing. Then they hawk space-age shoes and other gear. If I donned all the recommended gear I would be carrying an extra 20 pounds and would probably get struck by lightning. But I like the magazine anyway, and it makes me want to run more. I am grateful for that.

I took it easy on the dirt trail and thought about the fall season. This is the season where I feel most acutely the passage of time. I can’t help but be sentimental.

This has always been the season that brings the school year. It necessitates adapting to the cold and finding all that stashed winter clothing of mine. Taking my comforter out of my closet and sleeping in a warm mummy-like shell and breathing the cold air of my bedroom. I think about Thanksgiving and Christmas and the cross-country ski trails and whether we will get enough snow. I think about the full moon over the snow. Hawkwatching at Hawk Ridge in temperatures fifteen degrees cooler than here in Minneapolis. Listening for great horned owls on evening hikes. The late-afternoon sunset. The changes in my body: cravings for sugary foods and hot, fatty dishes with cheese and pasta and potatoes. Pulling on thermal underwear in the morning. Taking extraordinary measures just to keep the blood flowing to my hands and feet. The Leonid meteor shower.

It’s a good time to think about the changing seasons and how best to welcome autumn. I definitely will want to be outside every day to take notice of all the little changes.