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Blog Entry 52 of 56 Outdoors in Wichita Falls

About the living things in and around Wichita Falls and those that enjoy them. What can be seen and where. Events and activities focused on this interest.

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The Turning of the Seasons

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Contributed by: Penny Miller on 8/16/2008

There is something comforting about the regular passage of the seasons. The arrival and departure of the birds, the lengthening and shortening of daylight hours, and the blooming and passing of plants.

It seems that the hottest days follow the beginning of the shortening of daylight. I have never figured that out, but I am sure someone as studied that question. It is already getting harder to get up in the morning, because it isn't light yet when the alarm clock goes off.

The birds at Wild Bird Rescue also follow a timeline--you can tell where we are in the summer by the types of birds that come in. We begin and end baby season with baby doves. We received three tiny doves this week--not unusual for this time of year. I don't know why doves have such a long breeding season and have so many clutches, but they do.

Right now we are innundated with Mississippi Kites. We are always in a race with the clock to try to get them grown and ready to go in migration. We released 13 this week. It is rewarding to go outside and to watch them soaring over our building, getting ready to head south. We have another 20 plus that still have a lot of maturing to do--this will be the group that has to hurry it up. We have in past years occasionally had to find someone going to Houston to "catch up" with the migration in order to for a younger bird to stay witha group. I hope we don't have to do that this year. We don't have any real tiny ones, so we'll hope for the best.

I got another little blue jay in this morning--someone needs to tell the bird parents out there it is time to take some time for themselves and rest up a little before winter gets here.

I also got word that the Monarchs are starting to move south in Canada. It will still be a few weeks before they get here, but I have my net at the ready. The Texas Master Naturalist chapter will be tagging monarchs again this year to help study their migration habits.

So I know the dog days of summer are nearly at an end--and am I ever happy about that.

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Submitted By: Jim Miller

posted on 8/21/2008 @ 7:47:56 PM

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You and a bunch of the rest of us!

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Submitted By: Beverly McClure

posted on 8/16/2008 @ 7:21:40 PM

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I hope all turns out well for the baby kites and the rest of the birds. If they only knew how grateful they should be for you and the rest of the workers. I think you do a marvelous job.

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Penny Miller

Wichita Falls , TX

Penny Miller has posted 56 blog entries and 45 comments since joining on 11/23/2006. Penny Miller 's average blog rating is 4.57.

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