Drive-by birding, 9-30

When I leave work in the evening, there are very few things that would make me want to do a U-turn. Home is where the heart is, and my time is very precious there.

But today, I nearly screeched my brakes as I caught a spectacular sight in a hayfield.

I had never seen so many sandhill cranes in one place! Counting from the picture, there were close to forty of them.

I had thought the sandhills were long gone by now. Maybe these came from further north in Canada.

The leaves on the trees in the background are deceptively green; everywhere else the forest is now aglow with orange and scarlet, crimson and yellow.