Fall is always a favorite time for many folks. Cooler air is refreshing. Colorful tree leaves emerging offer pleasing visual experiences, and there are always wildlife sightings of one species or another, both common or unique, to enjoy.

Farmers and gardeners are busy with harvests. Orange pumpkins seem to now be available everywhere. Mother Nature offers these opportunities free of charge. Just make the effort to get outside to partake in some kind of fall season activity.

A nice addition to my wildlife observations happened this week when Yellow-rumped Warblers visited my bird feeding station. I was able to capture several images, and will continue to obtain more and better images of them as this month progresses.

Meanwhile, while this little warbler bird is here, it is time to enjoy its antics and interactions with other resident birds. This warbler holds its own quite well and is not easily bullied away from finding a new seed to eat.

The breeding bird survey estimates the population of Yellow-rumped Warblers in North America at 170 million. Each bird species that is surveyed is given a Continental Concern score to help rate any special needs of the biology and/or habitats this critter may utilize. That score gets a six out of a possible 20, which translates into a low concern category.

Huge numbers of yellow-rumps may pass through the Midwest from their primary summer boreal forest habitats of Canada during October. They may go only as far as southern Missouri. However, this species is likely to be found almost anywhere in our southern states from Florida

to southern California, into Mexico or even Central America.

In any of these places, the winter food supply can be varied to include waxes found in bayberries and wax myrtles. The digestive system of yellow-rumps is uniquely capable of digesting waxes. Their versatility goes much further to include insects captured on the fly or berries of all kinds.

Caterpillars and other insect larvae, beetles, ants, aphids, grasshoppers, crane flies and spiders will do just fine to fill their gut. When it comes to fruits, juniper berries are just one they will

consume. Add to this the berries of poison ivy, greenbriar, grapes, Virginia creeper and dogwood and seeds of grasses, goldenrod, sunflowers, raisin, peanut butter and suet.

For a little bird that is so versatile in its food sources, it helps to explain why they are so successful. I hope you will be able to find this warbler in your outdoor adventures this fall.

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During October, these species of birds may be leaving or getting ready to leave Iowa if they were using our state as a summer home. The list is long so here are just a few. A big push for all species of waterfowl is underway with more to come.

Cold freezing conditions in Canada or the Dakotas and Minnesota can influence duck and goose migrations tremendously. Local weather events will probably force the issue for waterfowl.

Big birds of prey, the raptors, continue to fly southward, using the Iowa River valley corridor as a landscape feature just like every other river system in Iowa. Keep your eyes to the sky to watch for these high flyers.

The sparrow list gets long at this time of year. The common house sparrow is here all the time, but do look carefully at other lookalike species of sparrows that will gradually influx during October.

The Eastern Chipping Sparrow is one to watch for, and so are the Clay-colored Sparrows, Field Sparrow, Harris’ Sparrow, and White-crowned Sparrows. The Eastern Fox Sparrow is on the list also along with Song Sparrows.

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Birds not leaving Iowa include Bald Eagles. In fact, many northern eagles will be arriving, many to spend winter here among some of our resident eagles. On any day, if I look carefully, I can find eagles doing their thing of plying the airways, or perched on an overhanging tree branch along a stream or river.

Sometimes they offer photographic opportunities, sometimes not. But they always offer binocular observations as I study their studious and calm surveys of the land below them.

Locally, Ringneck Pheasants are being seen and heard in many places. New grassland habitats, both public and many on private lands where warm season grass mixes have been planted, are offering lots of cover for this hardy upland game bird.

On numerous occasions, I have had both roosters and hen pheasants arise from a nearby rural road ditch to fly across the road in front of me. Another treat was a recent game bird flying across the road — only this time it was a gray partridge.

They are tough birds and very difficult to see due to their grayish plumage, but when they fly, a cinnamon colored rump patch is distinctive. Partridge are larger than quail and smaller than pheasants.

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Leaf color was at a maximum this past week for central Iowa. It was hard to miss a huge variety of leaf colors everywhere, in the city or out and about in the county. Grammer Grove Wildlife Area, Arney Bend, Timmons Grove, Grimes Farm, Sand Lake and Three Bridges Park all have spectacular tree leaf colors.

The best way to see those colors is to immerse oneself into the middle of these color pallets by hiking along trails in these parks. Every step you take will be upon crunchy leaves. Every view you make upward into the trees will offer visual kaleidoscopes to enjoy or photograph.

The reasons to get outside now are to enjoy the colors while they last. It is a short term happening. All too soon, those leaves will drop to the forest floor, creating a carpet of color to wade through with every step.

With this weekend’s warm weather adding to our “Indian Summer” setting, the time is now to make an effort to get outside.

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Since I am speaking of colors that please the eye, I was reminded of paintings offered by wildlife artist Terry Redland whereby he often uses background warm light of a rising sun or a setting sun to make the sky appear to be yellow to orange to tones of red.

Within these settings, he places people and wildlife in idyllic positions to emphasize the wildlife he portrays. His artistic works are always garnering attention at wildlife fundraising banquets.

Such was the case this week while I was deer hunting. I was looking west over the Iowa River. The sky was clear, but since the sun had just set, the orange and yellows of the sky were predominant.

Into this pleasing to the eye context, came a flock of about ten Canada geese from the west. Their honking calls gave them away as they flew lower and lower. Finally, they turned at just the right moment, wings now set for a landing on a nearby sandbar of the river, to be framed by the land, its trees, and that beautiful warm colored sky in the background.

The bodies of the geese were just black silhouettes against the sky. That new memory is etched into my mind, not captured by my camera. It was an amazing and inspiring moment of time. Hunters often get these bonus opportunities because they are outside immersed in Mother Nature’s colorful landscapes at those quiet sunrise or sunset times. How terrific is that?

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“Listen to life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is.” — Frederick Buechner, writer, poet, and theologian.

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Garry Brandenburg is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology.

Contact him at: P.O. Box 96

Albion, IA 50005