September

"Summer has come and passed,

The innocent can never last,

Wake me up when September ends."

- Green Day

I know I make a post similar to this every year, but I always feel like it bears repeating.

There really is no more magical month to be working at the zoo than in September.

The heat has just broken, and the weather is cool and pleasant.  Not too cold, though - the grounds are still green and lush, and you have maybe two months before taking on the onerous task of packing up the cold-intolerant animals into winter housing.  Instead, the animals are at their best, rejuvenated by the more pleasant temperatures, active even in the middle of the day.

And you can actually see them, as well - without having to ram your way through the crowds.  You're in that sweet-spot between the departure of the summer tourists and the start of the fall school groups.  Sure, the weekends are still busy, but you'd be surprised at how many kids are starting their extracurricular activities, like sports, and have that on the weekends, and you still have five days a week of peace and quiet to amble about the grounds.  

It's not just a time of year for pleasant strolls, though.  It's also a time of action.  You can finally take five minutes to look at your project list and start making progress on it.  The weather is ideal for moving animals, so new faces are coming in and out of the collection.  There's a flurry of construction, trying to get work done between the summer, when you don't want portions of the zoo shut down or obstructed, and winter, when it may be too cold to work.  

It's a wonderful time of year, a mixture of peaceful and pleasant yet also invigorating and bustling.  And yet you know that the calendar will turn, inevitably, and soon winter will be here, and so you find yourself wishing that September would last forever.