Marion County Naturalist, Marla Mertz has noticed the fall leaves and crispness of the north winds gives way to finalize some of nature’s activities. She tells KNIA/KRLS news we have been fortunate to not have too many gray days. We experienced a Hunter’s Moon on October 9. The bright moon lit up the skies and harvest is giving way to the animal movement.

Mertz added we are still experiencing bird migration.“As of now we are in mid-October and we are still experiencing a lot of bird migration coming from the north country. We have very few sightings of the ruby-throated humming birds right now.”

Most of the hummingbirds have been on their way to South America. There are always some stragglers, that stay behind. If you feed hummingbirds Mertz said it is important to keep feeding them until you don’t see any for two to three weeks.

The turkey vultures are ‘kettling’ up and she has noticed lots of movement. Some turkey vultures will linger here until the end of October/early November, depending on the weather, and then the bald eagles will begin moving into the area for the winter.