Nature Happenings (September - October)

• 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.
• 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 start to appear.
• 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.
• Cedar Waxwings arrive.
• Look for scarce Rufous Hummingbirds to arrive throughout the region.
• Wintering sparrows, towhees and juncos arrive late October - they all love millet in a ground feeder.
• It's a good time to install bluebird winter roost boxes.
• American Goldfinches start to return this month (in the south of the region).
• First Sprague's Pipits and longspurs arrive for the winter.
• Monarch migration reaches its peak late in month, sometimes in uncountable numbers.
• Sandhill Cranes arrive in small flocks late in the month.
• Waterfowl migration continues to build; lots of geese can be seen passing over at the end of the month.
• Bald Eagle nest building and maintenance begins.
• Great Horned Owl males begin hooting in nesting territory.
• Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers arrive.
• Sedge Wrens arrive in mid-October.
• Peak fall migration for American Robins.
• Orionids meteor shower is late-October