This is bird note.

Although we may think of autumn as a sort of winding down period, for birds, it's as much a season of renewal as the spring.

In October and November we embrace the annual arrival of our winter birds

which spent their summer in breeding territories far to the north.

In many parts of the lower 48 states,

autumn is the time when the junkos arrive. The arrival of dark-eyed junkos is

so characteristic of the colder months that many people call them simply snowbirds.

The white-throated sparrow travels well into Northern Canada during the breeding season,

but in autumn you'll find them kicking up leaf litter from the east

all the way down into Texas and even into the southwest.

In October and November Southwest.

And October and November mark the southward move of those massive white birds, the swans.

In the fall and winter, tundra swans fly to wetlands in the west and mid-Atlantic.

While the larger trumpeter swans returned to the Pacific Northwest.

So, welcome back, and thanks for giving new life to the winter landscape.

For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.

This show brought to you by the Bobbble Inc Foundation.