already reaped. The last, lingering oyster-catchers foraged in the stubble before flying back to the coast, and other birds started to flock. The robin presented us with his tuneful autumn song as he sat at the top of next door’s roof and, for some reason, the owls in the woods became very vocal each evening—sometimes during the day as well. On one of our evening drives upriver we noticed that the large osprey nest wedged into the top branches of a gaunt old tree seemed deserted. The parent birds