The sun is noticeably rising to the south of my tree line and her rays are beginning to warm the slate of the sunroom floor.  My hummers are missing from the feeders, but the silence I felt in August is replaced by a more vocal crew of feathered friends and visitors.  It is a wonderful time with leaves floating down to cover the lawn as they do!  The Writing Spiders are everywhere and this year I am avoiding them.  I am hoping for a fall with no bites.  And I’m listening to the birds’ dawn song more often as light peeks through the pines later and later.

The August bird silence, I learned, was caused by the passing of breeding time, when songs attract a mate and mark territories, into molting season where our avian friends replace all their feathers as they ready themselves for the migration and winter.  During the molt, birds are hiding in the bushes and branches awaiting their strong feather’s regeneration. And then, September came and the migration began!  This morning Merlin Bird told me that a Grey-cheeked Thrush was visiting on its way from Canada to South America!  

Of course, the usual year-round feathered friends are still hanging out.  My favorite, the Pileated Woodpecker and my Red-Shouldered Hawk greeted me early this morning, and of course, the hawk was flocked by the harrassins, the crows.  Those harassers seem to have doubled in numbers this summer, and they have taken to devouring the grass seed that we have tried to plant twice recently.  

But I know other migrants are passing by now, although I haven’t seen or heard them all.  Most migrants fly at night and rest in the daytime.  How they know what direction to go and how to find their winter home is quite mysterious.  But it is comforting to know that they know.  The worrying part is that most bird deaths are during this grueling journey, sometimes 5,000 miles.  That grey-cheeked thrush is trekking all the way to Colombia or Venezuela.  So, along the way he must stop to refuel and rest before moving on, and we must make sure that there are areas of brush and cover for them to survive and find nutrition.  I even had a Northern Waterthrush turn up a few days ago verifying the thrushes movement south.  A google search tells me that these streaky brown songbirds forage at water’s edge in bogs and still ponds looking for insects and small water lizards.  With this dry summer, the recent rains provided a spot for this winged friend to get some R&R, I hope.  

The Upstate is one of the highest visited sites on the bird migration map of the US with thousands of various birds passing through each day in the fall.  This can be evidenced daily at Ceasar’s Head State Park.  The Greenville County Bird Club has taken a bird count from this magnificent view each fall for decades.  The best times to join in the “wing nuts” work is from 9 to 5 daily.  They have a rotation of birdwatchers counting mainly raptors flying over this open view each day from September 1 to December 1.  The site’s rock cliff causes an updraft where many birds enjoy kettling (a spinning wind in which the raptors glide).  Some of the birds you might view are bald eagle, Osprey, various hawks, and mainly Broad-winged Hawks.  Be sure to take binoculars to make your visit more productive and enjoyable.

As I end this migration discussion, I want to be sure to invite you all to the McCullough House and Inn on October 12th for a Fall Festival on the grounds.  Fork Shoals Historical Society is sponsoring this day for our supporters to join us in celebrating the 1812 house’s restoration.  We will have the yard open for all to see the amazing work that was done this year to restore and stabilize the handmade brick.  Please join us for a hotdog lunch to support the society, and we plan to have history of the house talks and tours!  Come on down historic US Highway 25 to Princeton for a day of fun from 9 to 2.  And visit nearby Happy Cow Creamery and City Scape Winery afterward.  Southern Greenville County is Rising!

Anne Peden, PhD
Greenville County Historic Preservation Commission
Fork Shoals Historical Society
Piedmont Historical Preservation Society●