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It’s In Your Nature: Note the changes, both subtle and obvious, September brings

Published August 29. 2026 09:03AM

I looked back at notes in my birding log and it brought to mind all the changes that happen near us in next 30 days or so. The first week of September often is just a rerun of the hot weather of July and August, but there are subtle changes.

The fireflies have mated, their adult life is done, but instead of flickering dots around us, the evenings are filled with adult katydids rasping away attracting mates by sound not light. The gray tree frogs have stopped their tropical-sounding serenades, as have the pond-side bullfrogs.

If you haven’t noticed, the long lines of barn swallows on utility lines are gone; they’re well on their long southward journeys. But replacing them on the wires are mourning doves resting between foraging on timothy hay seeds mixed throughout the cornfields. This is the time of their largest populations, as winter and predators slowly whittle their numbers again.

For the “whitetail “bucks, in the first week of September, the fuzzy velvet covering their antlers dries, and in a day or two, is either scraped off or loosens on its own. By the middle of the month, the deer lose their summer hair, sort of reddish tinged, to the coarse, grayer, hollow hairs for winter.

The brilliant streamside cardinal flowers stop blooming, but the meadows, roadsides and forest clearings are replenished by the many different goldenrod species, white snakeroot, or in damp areas, New England aster.

My house wrens have left, but by the end of the month I’ll have my feeders ready for the first arriving white-throated sparrows and juncos. Meanwhile, silently passing overhead each evening are millions of warblers, vireos, tanagers and flycatchers migrating in the dark. Get out early in the morning to catch them refueling through the tree tops (but note, many have molted into their nonbreeding plumage.)

I’ve already noticed that the deep green luster of the deciduous trees has already faded. By Sept. 1, the black walnuts are already dropping their yellowish leaflets, and the Virginia creepers and black gum leaves will be turning red by mid-month.

By the end of September, the hay-scented ferns start yellowing, and many other trees begin displaying some of their vibrant October hues.

Underneath those trees, the bears and woodchucks are feasting to layer fat for the winter, while chipmunks and squirrels are working overtime collecting the mast that is dropping into the dying ferns.

Before you know it, it’s October with frosts, lower humidity and then the first flurries.

Last Week’s True and False Trivia Answers: Rattlesnakes can’t be aged by their rattles, and they can reach 4 feet long. The pit vipers don’t lay eggs; the eggs actually form in their bodies and young are born alive and able to produce venom within hours of their birth. They can only strike about two-thirds their length and don’t necessarily rattle before striking. They can live 30 years and replace their fangs every couple of weeks. Copperheads are closely related to water moccasins, the venom attacks the blood, and the snake’s tail extends only from behind the anus. I hope you did well on that little quiz.

This Week’s Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: True/False — Mourning doves have more nests each summer than our other resident birds.

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com

By Sept. 1, except for a rare straggler, the barn swallows that covered the utility lines near the barns where they live may already be gracing the skies over the Caribbean islands on their way to South America. BARRY REED/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS
The fall migration of small birds has already begun. This black-throated green warbler was photographed about four years ago in mid-September while it used the daylight hours to refuel. Hint: Go to the Cornell Lab BirdCast (birdcast.org) to see radar of the nighttime migrations and even predictions of up to three days in advance of future big nights. One late August night this year, BirdCast detected 200 million small birds migrating south across the U.S.
Some of your hummers may have already migrated. Expect the majority to be gone by mid-September. My latest Carbon County record was Sept. 28.
I photographed this nice buck around Sept. 10 a few years ago. I had a trail cam photo of it in velvet on Sept. 1. Expect the velvet to be off most bucks in September’s first few days.
Unlike most of the smaller passerine birds, blue jays migrate in loose flocks, just above the treetops in daylight. They’ll migrate through here beginning late September.
Their numbers are drastically reduced, but the monarch butterfly migration peaks in mid- to late September. Hopefully your flower gardens can offer needed nectar for their long flight.
September begins the change in deer’s outerwear. This doe has already lost her summer coat, while her fawn, with barely discernible spots, will soon follow.
Chipmunks, gray squirrels and this red squirrel will be constantly gathering everything this month, from acorns and walnuts to pine seeds, for the predictable and challenging winter conditions.
Bears gorge themselves (hyperphagia) beginning now to build up fat reserves for the winter denning time.
Instead of barn swallows perched on utility lines, mourning doves seem to take over those same spots in September.
By late September, the black-eyed Susans and Queen Anne’s lace are replaced by goldenrods and white snakeroot.
Late in the month look for New England asters growing in semi-damp field edges.
After breeding to our north, the ruby-crowned kinglets migrate through our region in mid-September through mid-October.
You know fall has arrived when the first Northern juncos return to your feeders, usually the last few days of the month.
Tags:
Barry Reed, Environment