When the Washington volcano Mt. St. Helens erupted some 20 years ago, tons of hot ash blew into the air, gradually settling down on fields, towns, streets, and cities for miles around. People referred to this ash as "fallout." Anything falling from the sky can be called "fallout," I guess. When I was growing up, there was great fear of the atom bomb and the lethal fallout that would follow the explosion of one. People built "fallout shelters" to protect them from these harmful radioactive particles, and stocked them with boxes of crackers and bottled water.

In birding, there are fallouts, too. They are not frightening or dangerous, but to a birder, they are exciting and dramatic. A fallout occurs when a large number of migrating birds lands in one place at one time, and it's the lucky birder who is there to see it. Once you get to know birds' migrating patterns, you can try to position yourself in the right place at the right time and hope it happens to you. I have read of birders almost going into shock by the sheer numbers of birds "dripping from the trees," not knowing which way to turn to look at everything. During fallouts, birders have seen 20 species of warbler within a few minutes; and have reported trees filled with uncountable numbers of such birds as Indigo Buntings and Western Tanagers.

One place fallouts occur is along the Texas coast in the springtime, as large groups of tired birds that were flying over the Gulf of Mexico finally hit land and drop down into the trees to rest and forage. Since we can't all be on the Texas coast in early May, another good way to catch a fallout is to watch the unsettled weather patterns in spring or fall; following a big cold front, a thunderstorm, or any other major weather disturbance, go outside with your binoculars. The front or storm will have forced migrating birds down out of the sky. This is a great time to see birds you would otherwise not see, since they prefer to migrate at night. Every spring and fall, "fanatical" birders keep a keen eye on the changing weather, and in the middle of a good storm, rush to their favorite foliaged spot to wait for the rain to let up, to see what they can see.