Charles Seabrook

America will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the National Wilderness Act, the landmark law that confers the nation’s highest protection on millions of acres of federal land, on Tuesday.

Several of Georgia’s migratory birds — orchard orioles, cerulean warblers, ruby-throated hummingbirds — began heading south a month ago and should be well on their way to winter grounds in Latin America or already ensconced there.

Between now and mid-October is the height of fall migration, when tens of millions of birds — songbirds, raptors, shorebirds and water fowl — fly across Georgia on their way to the southern tropics for the winter.

Anyone with only a passing interest in sports knows that the Atlanta Falcons play football and the Atlanta Hawks play basketball.

When Hurricane Helene struck last week, tens of millions of songbirds, shorebirds and raptors that nested in North America during spring and summer were flying south to Latin America and Caribbean islands for the winter.

With 58 species of salamanders — more than one tenth of all the world's salamander species — Georgia is a global “hot spot” for the amphibians.

Nearly a month into autumn, the land is in the midst of its seasonal change. Even the sky, which appears bluer in October, announces that autumn is in full swing.

This is the best time of year to see bald eagles in Georgia. The majestic, charismatic birds kicked off their nesting season this month and are super busy now shoring up old nests and building new ones.

This is the time of year for hoarding, when squirrels, chipmunks and some bird species are busily storing seeds, nuts, acorns — even insects — for retrieval when food becomes scarce in deep winter.

Appearing in the sky a week from now (Nov. 15) will be the beaver moon — as November's full moon is called.