BY HANNES THUM
The rhythms of the year show up in all sorts of ways. We see some of them in our own daily lives and some of them out in the natural world.
Annual birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. The ups and downs of seasonal work. Traditions and trips. The starts of school years (even unique years, like this one), the starts of sports seasons; the first time you can (comfortably) sit out on a deck in the afternoon in the spring, and the last time you can do so in the fall.
All of these things are ways we mark the year with human events.
Then, there’s the natural moments of the year. The changing colors of the leaves. The first frost. The first snow. The first REAL freeze. The first BIG snow. The pace of winter storms. The way that the sun warms up at the end of February. The last freezing night. Runoff and swollen rivers in the spring.
Birds that arrive and then leave. Animals that prepare for winter, that hunker down or hibernate, that become active again, that enjoy the fruits of summer ecosystems, that again prepare for winter. The insects that appear above the river’s surface, seemingly out of thin air, and then disappear the next week, in the same order every summer.
The way the smells in the air change throughout the year. The sounds, like elk bugles, that highlight a certain turn of the season.
Warming up and cooling down. Lengthening and shrinking. Towards the sun, and away from the sun. Moons. Stars. Seasons. Solstices and equinoxes.
All of these things are ways that the world marks the year with its own events, regardless of what we ask or expect.
But, of course, it is hard to separate our human events from the natural ones. When the frost approaches, we cover our gardens. When the snow comes, we adjust our routines. When the big snow comes, we gaze at it and play in it and remark on it (and shovel it). When the sun warms again, we bask in it. When the ground clears, we plant our crops and feel the dirt again. When summer arrives, we let our students out of school again to run and play and swim, to work and to live the life of long days.
To focus, though, on today: this, right now, is the season of change.
If you’ve noticed the mornings and evenings getting darker and the days shortening, it’s because the lengths of days change faster at this time of year. One day makes a lot of difference around the equinoxes (the autumnal equinox was a couple of weeks ago).
Temperatures change faster during this time of year. Animals go through more transitions during this time of year, as do the plants (you’ll surely have noticed the changes in leaves by now). Weather patterns shift.
I saw snow on Glassford Peak last week. The elk have been bugling. The Swainson’s hawks will be leaving soon, or have already left.
The season of change has arrived.
Hannes Thum is a Wood River Valley native and has spent most of his life exploring what our local ecosystems have to offer. He currently teaches science at Sun Valley Community School.