Officially Autumn

Okay, autumn officially started in September but like many there are certain events that make a season personally official. In the American Midwest it begins with the changing colors of the tree leaves, then leaves on the ground making that crunching sound as you walk. Soon it is the crisp morning air that makes one reach for a warm sweater or jacket.

All too soon it is the debate of when to turn the furnace on. For me it is a private little contest. I try to wait until at least November 1st, but this year it was earlier. In part that was due to the installation of a new furnace and then there was the catching of a dreadful head cold. But it has been off more days than on so far.

We were surprised by our first snowfall on November 10th, but the temperature was back in the 60s (F) today. It was a lovely sunny day today and worthy of a short road trip. I knew just the place to go -- northern Indiana to see the Sandhill Cranes at the Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area. More later about the cranes.

On my drive north I was surprised to see a HUGE wind farm. It covers a large area between 5-10 miles travelling north and from what I could see it spans a wide area. Later learned that this is called the Fowler Ridge Wind Farm. The photo below is the best one I could find and it is from the http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2010/06/indiana-wind-farm-provides-glimpse-of-zeroemission-future.html website. After viewing the Sandhill Cranes it was dark as I was heading south. The windmills all have red lights (due to their height to warn of flight risks) so it looked like strings of red Christmas lights in the dark.



















Sandhill Cranes
The Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area is a great place to view Sandhill Cranes during their migratory stopover. The birds come in to land before sunset. They have a distinctive sound and are large elegant birds. I was fortunate one year to see the cranes nearly fill the upper meadow. A few times they flew so close overhead that their size made me gasp in wonder. Today the cranes were in the far meadow so only those with very good binoculars or mega-lenses on their cameras were able to view the cranes properly. Still, they are beautiful to see in flight. Viewing and hearing them (I love the sound of the cranes) is a personal autumn event. Even the sight of many other observers is a delight. Some return year after year and come from Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois (with many from the Chicago area). I talked to several who were there for the first time today.

A few photos (like the one below), an audio clip and information is available at Indiana Department of Natural Resources website at http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3109.htm