Signs Of Autumn And A Chipmunk Preparing For Winter

Least Chipmunk stuffing its cheeks with seeds – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

Over the past week I have seen, felt and heard several signs of autumn in the high country of the Wasatch Mountains to as low as the Salt Lake Valley. I know that the summer of 2019 is quickly coming to an end and that fall is only a few sunrises away according to our human calendars although I don’t really need a calendar to know that autumn is on its way. I can see, feel and hear it.

I’ve noticed that the leaves of the oaks in the higher elevations have started to turn rusty red, that some of the leaves of chokecherry trees have turned scarlet and that the aspens now have a touch of gold to their leaves.

Morning temps are cooler and it is probably time to start wearing boots instead of my hiking sandals when I go out into the field to look for birds so that my toes don’t freeze on what are soon to be frosty mornings. Snow has ready fallen on some of the highest peaks.

I’ve heard the bugling calls of male elk in rut in search of mates coming from the forested mountainsides.

Some of the warblers I saw in large numbers just a few weeks ago are now absent which means my ears and eyes already miss hearing their calls and catching sight of them on the wing.

The Uinta Ground Squirrels went underground to hibernate weeks ago and now the the chipmunks are busy preparing for the long winter ahead by stuffing their cheeks with the food that they will store in their burrows to snack on when the snow is thick above their heads.

Daylight hours are have gotten shorter, nights are longer and cooler. There are plentiful signs that summer is about to end and that autumn is almost here. I’m ready.

Life is good.

Mia