Nature Happenings - September
Bird Activity
- American goldfinch visit flower beds with coneflower, Black-eyed Susans, and other seed-producing flowers. Their young can be seen and heard harassing adults for food at feeders
- Robins are in large flocks, feeding on crab apples
Migration
- Migration month! More birds are in the area now than any other month.
- Hummingbird numbers peak around Labor Day, then start to dwindle
- Blackbird flocks (Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Rusty Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds) can number in the thousands
- Chimney Swifts congregate near large chimneys at dusk for their nightly communal roost during migration.
- Peak migration for raptors such as Bald Eagle, Broad-winged Hawks. Each September, the Audubon Society of Forsyth County organizes a Hawk Watch at Pilot Mountain State Park. Visit them on the web for more information: Audubon Hawk Watch at Pilot Mountain
- Chuck-will’s-widow – peak fall migration mid-September
- Fall migration peaks for warblers and others (third week)
- House Wren – begin arriving in late September
Plants and Other Wildlife
- Asters, Goldenrod, Stiff Gentian, Sampson's Snakeroot and ragweed still in bloom – it’s not the goldenrod that’s making you sneeze
- Peak southerly migratory movement of Monarch Butterflies
- Black and Yellow Garden Spider (argiope aurantia) eggs hatch, young overwinter in the 1" sac and disperse in spring.
- Field Crickets, drawn by the heat, often enter houses during the fall.
- Bucks polishing antlers – look for buck rubs
- Bats busy feeding – building fat reserves for hibernation, migration