My, my, how you have changed

10-21
1326-1354
Springer's Botanical Gardens
I haven't been back in a while, but my first glimpse of it today was distinctly different than what I had seen only a few weeks ago. Autumn took its toll on the plants, unclothing the flowers of leaves and vivid colors. The tomatoes were green and unripe, most of the better ones already picked by students. I doubted these would ripen anytime soon before the heavier frost settled in. The black-eyed daisies were fading, the upper leaves, cast off by the wind. However, the ferns were still green and showed no signs of yellowing. A flock of cedar waxwings that I saw yesterday soared through the skies in a crowd. A yellow bird (see picture) skipped on a tree with pinnate leaves, most of which had fallen off. The bird had a pale belly, dark short beak, white eye ring, and gave short, throaty calls. It may have been a female or juvenile goldfinch. Dark eyed juncos were also sharing the tree. I heard a bird call that sounded like a crosswalk signal, kind of high and drops tone smoothly. It's hard to discern the birds from the falling yellow leaves and as the wind blows through, in my eyes, the leaves morph into birds. A junco chased off an invading chickadee. It had small black marks on each side of its eyes. Maybe it was an immature chick, or perhaps a wren. The juncos were feeding at the base of ivy shrub with three leaves, similar to a maple. A black-capped chickadee fed off the insects of a red elderberry and was later chased off again by the crowd of juncos. A lone white domestic duck flew Northwest slowly (in comparison to smaller birds, such as waxwings). On a hawthorn tree, more than 30 feet high, a hummingbird alighted on a branch within the slender vines. It seemed to have a bejeweled violet-pink head and was perched for a minute or more before moving. It was remarkably different than the hummers I had seen before that would flit from flower to flower inexhaustibly. It was an Anna's hummingbird, as I looked up the picture and call song. I looked around to discover what it was after, when I noticed a red dish, an empty hummingbird feeder. Was it looking for more food or was it satiated and wanted a mate like the rest of the hummingbirds on campus? One can only guess at the possibilities.