There was a yellow-bellied sapsucker down from the north woods at Ivy Creek last Monday, a harbinger of changing seasons. Although a few scarlet tanagers still linger in their olive drab autumnal plumage, most of the neotropical migrants have passed through. During October the sapsucker will be joined by other winter residents – yellow-rumped warblers, hermit thrushes, dark-eyed juncos, and white-throated sparrows. The fruit crop of cherries, grape, and cedar cones is abundant so we can expect large flocks of cedar waxwings and robins on and off during the winter as they rove the local area in search of food.
