Catbirds Check Out

There are many measures for the end of summer.  Many Americans might say, "Labor Day", and others "Back to School", and still others "the last day of August".  For me, summer ends when the Catbirds leave.  It is an admittedly early event -- always in the third week of August, many days before we are clear of, say, 90F-days.  And a month before the Vernal Equinox.  But it seems that the lazy days of high summer have come to an end when this chatty bird checks out for the season.  The woods are quieter, the feeders less frequented.  From what I can see they have now departed.  Soon the hummingbirds will join them, but by that time some of those other deadlines have passed and fall seems more a reality.  But it is today.  Catbird Summer is done.