The official start of summer is just days away, but it feels
like spring ended long ago. The tree
canopy is thick with leaves, the clap of thunder echoes through warm, humid
nights, and birds are settled into their summer territories. With the end of the spring bird migration,
some birders hang up their binoculars, where they gather dust until next
spring. To the contrary, there is still
plenty of good birding to be done! While
the buzzing mosquitoes and biting black flies may make birding more challenging,
they are the exact reason why birding in summer can be such a joy: food is
plentiful.
Many of the birds that arrived to Vermont in April and May
have found a mate, built nests, laid eggs, and many of those eggs have already
hatched. And a nest full of hungry, baby
birds can keep attentive parents extremely busy. When not in nesting-mode, birds will immediately
eat most of their food, or cache it somewhere for consumption later. Now, however, they are busy gathering food
for their hungry offspring. In fact,
this behavior of carrying food is a strong indicator that somewhere nearby,
there is a nest full of fledglings. Some
birds will fill their beaks with multiple insects before returning to the nest.
Seeing this behavior is a special gift for any summer
birdwatcher. A bird with a mouth-full is
a sure sign that the circle of life is completing itself once again. When you see a bird carrying food, try to
observe it and watch where it goes. If
it detects your presence, it may well wait for you to depart before returning
to its nest… after all, no parent wants to lead a predator to its helpless
young. But, if you are lucky, you just
might get to witness that devoted parent caring for its brood.
So dust off those binoculars and head out to see who may be
nesting in your backyard. There is still
plenty of great birding to be done!
All photos were taken in the greater-Burlington area on June 17, 2012
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