Nature Happenings

• Cedar Waxwings arrive.
• Look for scarce Rufous Hummingbirds to arrive throughout the region.
• Wintering sparrows, towhees and juncos arrive late in the month - they all love millet in a ground feeder.
• It's a good time to install bluebird winter roost boxes.
• American Goldfinches start to return this month in coastal South Carolina in nonbreeding plumage.
• First Lapland Longspurs arrive for the winter (scarce in South Carolina).
• Monarch migration reaches its peak late in month, sometimes in uncountable numbers.
• Waterfowl migration continues to build; lots of geese can be seen passing over at the end of the month.
• Bald Eagle nest building and maintenance begins.
• Great Horned Owl males begin hooting in nesting territory.
• Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers arrive.
• Sedge Wrens arrive in mid-October.
• Peak fall migration for American Robins.
• Orionids meteor shower is late-October.

American Goldfinches (Spinus tristis) in winter plumage