Where Did They Go?

I was awake very early this morning though it was already getting light out. The first thing I noticed was how quiet it was. After sleeping so many nights with the windows closed because of the heat and humidity, it has finally cooled off enough at night to have the windows open again. And normally at that early hour of the morning there are lots of birds singing, and I mean LOTS. If you have ever been in full chicken house, you will have an idea what it sounds like. But not this morning. Where did they go? Did the heat get to them, too? The only birds I have heard, and this is new, is an owl. Hoo-hoo . . . . hoo-hoo. It is different from the mourning dove as they go o-WAH-hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo. In fact one or more of the doves are hoo-ing right now, shortly after the owl stopped. I have seen a few robins yet, though not as many as there were during nesting season this spring. And there are always the English sparrows twittering as they are here in great numbers in all seasons.

One that I have missed entirely this year is a bird that very loudly says, 'Pretty bird, pretty bird - look at me, look at me.' I have never seen the bird so I have no idea which one sings that song. It can be annoying at times, but now that I have not heard it, I miss it. Where did it go? Why hasn't it been here this spring?

We have not had much rain other than a couple of very brief showers for several weeks, and combining that with the extreme heat for the past two weeks, I am wondering if that has caused songbirds to go elsewhere, looking for cooler weather along with water and more lush greenery. I can imagine the robins are having a hard time getting worms out of the hard, dry and cracked ground. But there are more than enough insects for them to eat, as they have been so abundant this year.

If the birds have started migrating because of the hot and dry weather, what does that mean? An early and harsh winter? Sadly, I had predicted this hot and dry summer when we had a warmer and drier winter than what we normally have, and because of that, spring came at least a month to 6 weeks early with abnormally warm days. No one was complaining of the beautiful days then, and flowers starting to bloom so early. But that is dangerous in the fact that we are bound to get a killing frost later, which we did. So the question still remains. What does this mean? I sure miss all my feathered friends.