More signs of the end of summer

Today there was a flock of cowbirds that settled over our neighborhood. I'd been thinking about those birds lately. They always come in flocks during late summer and early fall, preparing to migrate south for the winter as all intelligent birds do. One moment all I could see in our yard was green grass and the earliest of the falling leaves, and the next, the ground was alive with black cowbirds pecking and fluttering about, sipping from the birdbath, fighting with one another. Once in a while the flock would get startled and take off in a wave as if a whirlwind had swept them up, only to settle back down a few yards from where they were before.

And then, just as quickly as they came, they were gone.