Autumn is coming

[Leslie]

There was a huge flock of house sparrows across the street from me this morning.  I haven't learned the art of estimating flock sizes, but it was far too big for a family group.

[Axeman]

Maybe there was a wedding in the family?

I don't think you find this in the GTA, but for me nothing says fall like CG's trumpeting overhead...although not always in the right direction....

And in the GTA it's the billion starlings in a tree...

[Leslie]

Re those CG's: We get the farm team overhead here near High Park.  They're not trumpeting, they're honking.  They have more work to do on their embouchures before they're ready to fly with the big boys.

[Rob'in'To]

I have noticed the Starlings in my backyard are turning speckled already.  A sure sign of fall coming.

[Axeman]

I figured you didn't have the cg's honking overhead in the GTA only b/c they don't seem to migrate from there....

[Leslie]

High Park gets a lot of migrants, 3rd after the Islands and the spit.  I'd be surprised if some of the cg's weren't migrants, even though there is a resident population.
The cg's I usually see from the backyard yard are either a few individuals or flying in small V's low overhead.  Not sure which population the small groups belong to.