migrating bluebirds

During the mid 1990s, I drove down a rural road in central Texas to pick up my sons who were playing with friends for the afternoon. The weather was brisk and thrilling - the first cold front of the year making its way toward us. The wind had only just shifted - was now flowing from the north. The cool air was welcome after the heat of the summer and early fall. The friends' mom and I visited for awhile, and she showed me their house. As we gazed from an upstairs winter over some dry pastureland, we saw a pair of little birds, glowing like jewels from the top wire of a fence, looking a little disoriented. Bluebirds! 

Eastern Bluebirds wintered each year in our area, as the weather up north was too severe for them. Such a delight to see their return on the northerly wind after a long summer absence.