Lately I’ve been watching the annual, southerly migration of birds. The Meadowlarks have now all gone. A month or so ago the last of the Long-billed Curlews vacated these premises. The Burrowing Owls have been gone for about a month. The finches and warblers and Brown Thrashers have departed, as have the Mourning Doves, Robins, and Red-winged Blackbirds. The Starlings are gathering for their mass exodus, and the Sandhill Cranes’ haunting vocalizations are passing overhead moving toward warmer places.