Unheeded omens - Arapahoe

[Jared Del Rosso]

The Romans once watched birds not to list them, but to read them for signs about the future. The lineage of this is stored in the English language, in the word auspice (auspicious, inauspicious...), which is both a prophetic sign and the watching of birds for omens, which could usually be found in birds' flights and feeding activities.

Had I been more an augur and less a birder, I might have taken the unusually large kettles of Turkey Vultures (at least 75...) that passed me in the morning seriously. And I might have worried over an evening Eastern Screech Owl, trilling at the full moon from somewhere near my home. Then, I would have kept vigil in my yard overnight to see what the birds foretold. Instead, I listed both species, celebrating, rather than worrying over, the vultures surpassing the previous eBird county high by about 50% and the Screech Owl finally leaving the High Line Canal to become a yard bird. What birders celebrate -- large gatherings of birds and birds out of place are -- augers generally worry over.

I woke to an empty chicken coop. And somewhere, a fulfilled fox.

Some signs that might foretell where late autumn birds gathers...around Centennial, I've yet to find a Common Hackberry with a drupe on it, a change from last year. Ashes are seedy, though.

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO