I'm not a dedicated bird watcher or anything, but I can't help noticing a few things about them.

For one, they are beginning their migrations. I've seen robins and sandhill cranes working their way south. I also saw some unidentified species with white bellies flock overhead. I asked my golfing compadres what they were, but their responses were ludicrous (blue jays and killdeer).

I've come to realize, people just don't know their birds--
or trees or insects or anything else for that matter. We just don't have the basic knowledge about life around us--or even nonlife (like rocks and minerals), like I think we should. If I see a bird, for example, that I can't identify, I go to a bird book to try to find it. (I still look up words in the dictionary.)

But I digress. I think I've mentioned I have a "piney" squirrel population that filches my walnuts, hiding them in every nook and corner of my garage. Well, the red-tail hawks have discovered them (the squirrels, not the walnuts). They perch in the trees just waiting for an opportunity to snatch an unsuspecting piney. I'm not sure who I'm rooting for, but it's fun to watch.

That's all from soon-to-be-gone corn country.