August-soundways | Evening | Harvest

The mower is turning his scythe, c. last decade (J PF112) 

According to the Snell meteorological record, in August the median temperature was 70.8º F, with a low of 54.8º F and a high of 98º F. Stratus clouds frequently covered the sky, altering occasionally with cumulostratus and nimbus. A little over four inches of rain fell, and winds, though light, often changed direction—NW + N 28; SW + S 19; SE + E 39; NE + N 14. The quiet weather of June and July extended into August, with the Snell’s record reporting 22 days—Aug. 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31—without perceptible meteorological sounds. Of the remaining days, five were marked by a curtain of light rains—Aug. 5, 6, 17, 22, 27—and the remaining three—Aug. 1, 3, 7—by thunderstorms. On August 9, the record noted, “Sun visible, but no shadows, noon,” and throughout August the weather is often described as fair but smoky.

Bird species in the scatterplot for August number about 108, with new arrivals of rare or irregular birds making the numbers of August rise slightly above those for July…

August opens in a space of bird-quiet. But after the storms that break up the first days come long stretches of fine weather supervene, and the birds sound again—a green and silver ambush of Veeries, Wood Thrushes, and Cuckoos.

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Of those birds still sounding in August are also Bobolinks, Black-and-White Warblers, Yellow Warblers, Warbling Vireos, Henslow’s Sparrows, Hummingbirds, King Rails, Terns, Upland and Solitary Sandpipers.

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Out of the south, come Blue Herons and King Rails; out of the north a few Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, Plovers, and Terns… Transients, they briefly cross each others’ flight- and song-paths.

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August is the month for harvesting wheat. Across acres and days is the sound of the scythe…

1:12

The listener is at their desk. Their pen crossing the paper. The fields will soon lie fallow again.

1:34

Night comes with dark flocks of hawks of many kinds—Northern Harriers,  Cooper’s Hawks, Broad-winged Hawks, Marsh Hawks, Nighthawks—spiraling their return to the high trees.