The end of Summer

We have recently noticed an absence of cicadas. They are not absent from the entire island but there are no longer any in our location.

Our eucalyptus tree suffered badly during the snow in January. It has rejuvenated itself but the new growth does not extend as far as the old dead growth which we cannot reach to remove. So it is that the extremities are dead and bare. This must have attracted swallows grouping to migrate. We noticed an unusual amount of twittering and an unprecedented number of birds gathering in the one tree for perhaps thirty minutes and then suddenly they all left together. 

And silence.