Fall Birding: Rise to the Challenge!  Written by Published on
September 22nd, 2011  |  Discuss This Article    Fall migration
birding is a quite different beast from spring.  Spring
migration brings a glorious burst of song and color as millions
of tiny feathered gems pour northward, singing their hearts out,
flitting with excitement of getting to breeding grounds. They
are much easier to spot and identify in the spring, by song and
bright plumage. The challenge of spring birding is finding all
the species, but once found, most are easy to identify.  In the
fall, birding is much more difficult—and for some, that makes it
all the more fun!  Come the fall, birds are driven by survival
to get to warmer climes. If they want to eat, they need to go
where the insects are—and insects do not thrive in cold
temperatures.  So the males molt their bright plumages, needing
fresh feathers for the long flight home. Most retain some color,
but generally, they are duller and more similar to the females
and, in some cases, sp