Nature Happenings

September

• Hummingbird numbers peak around Labor Day, then start to dwindle; huge numbers along Texas coast.
• Blackbird (grackles, cowbirds and redwings) flocks can number in the thousands.
• Broadwings and other hawks pass through.
• Peak of Blue-winged Teal migration.
• First flickers and kinglets can appear by the end of this month - they love suet.
• Migration month! More birds are in the area now than any other month.
• American Goldfinch juveniles can be seen and heard harassing adults for food at feeders.
• Ruby-crowned Kinglets appear.
• First juncos and White-throated Sparrows can appear by the end of this month.
• Robins are in large flocks, feeding on crab apples.
• Peak migration for Bald Eagle and other raptors.
• House Wrens begin arriving in the southeast in late-September.

October

• Snow Geese start returning by the end of this month.
• Dark-eyed Juncos return from their northern breeding grounds early this month.
• Indigo Buntings are gone by the end of this month.
• Keep your hummingbird feeders filled and clean until you have not seen a hummingbird for at least two weeks.
• This is the month to install and repair nest boxes for use next year.
• Waterfowl migration continues to build.
• American Goldfinches start to return late this month (in the south of the region).
• Free-tailed Bats migrate to Mexico.
• First Sprague's Pipits and longspurs arrive for the winter.
• Look for scarce Rufous Hummingbirds to arrive throughout the region.
• Wintering sparrows, towhees and juncos arrive. They all love millet in a ground feeder.
• Monarch Butterfly migration reaches its peak late in the month, sometimes in uncountable numbers.
• Sandhill Cranes arrive in huge flocks late in the month with many staging in the western half of the region.
• Orionids meteor shower is late-October.