A freeze is coming this way, so I’ve been picking oranges and grapefruit like mad, hundreds of them from just two trees. Coral-colored azaleas in bloom around town may suffer, but they have been a pleasure while they've lasted.

Half a dozen cedar waxwings cluster high in the leafless pecans, catching sunlight in the early morning. The yearround residents—cardinals, blue jays, Carolina wrens, red-bellied woodpeckers, mockingbirds—they can be found most any day. There have been more turkey vultures and crows of late. I’ve spotted a belted kingfisher twice this month a mile down the road. Six pine warblers in the pines near the house. There were cormorants as I crossed the Atchafalaya basin today. Most beautiful of all was the hawk with the cream-white underbelly, the sun glowing through its rust-red tail as it glided onto a tree branch.