The Pipits are coming

It is cold!

Or at least I’m not used to these temperatures.  It’s funny how this time of the year -5 C feels so chilly, but in the spring I’d be out in a t-shirt. I’m apparently not the only one who is finding it chilly, the American Pipits are heading south.  I’ve noticed them the last three or four days, and yesterday there were at least two huddled down in the shelter of the pile of scrap lumber at the House, trying to get out of this bitter wind.

I only see the Pipits in the fall, on their way to warmer climes. In the six years I’ve been here I’ve never once noticed them in the spring, nor have I encountered any nesting during the summer. But every fall at this time they descend on the town, and I see them just outside my door. 

Now you don’t often see birds perched on wires here, so when I saw a small passerine perched on the wire outside my place the first fall, I immediately grabbed the binoculars to check it out. Throughout that day I kept returning to the steps to watch the comings and goings of this small pretty bird. Like other birds with a similar habit I delight in the bobbing of its tail, and in its calls.

So I’ll enjoy this all too brief visit, from one of our few songbirds, for one day very soon, perhaps when a north wind springs up, it will leave. Heading for places where the wind isn’t quite so chill. So keep an eye out for them, they’re coming your way. And I’ll not see them again for another year.