October 3, 2010 - Transition Time
Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

Autumn is a time of change, a transition between the heat of summer and colder temperatures of winter. It is a time when Nature quiets down as its pace slows. Birds that a month ago gave voice to an early morning chorus are either absent or quiet. Even insect sounds have decreased in number with only a few crickets giving voice before frosts end their songs. The frenzied growth of summer plants has turned into a feeding or hoarding frenzy as those animals gather a wild harvest to get them through the lean times of winter. What were lazy summer days for them are now more frantic as they prepare for colder months. Even our weather goes through a transition swinging from warm and summerlike to cool and damp. All too soon we enter the more tranquil period of winter.

This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.