The Birds of Summer

by Sue Ann Kendall

I left Texas for a couple of weeks and looked for birds in South Carolina. I was surprised at how few I saw, though looking up and seeing an osprey floating outside my window scanning for prey was a pretty cool highlight.

Back here in northern Milam County, Texas, I’ve had the same experience. Before I left, the drought was just getting started, and I still saw scissortail flycatchers, large flocks of starlings and grackles, paintd buntings (heard, not seen), a few dickcissels, and my buddies the bug-eating barn swallows. When I returned, those birds were long gone. In fact, because I slept in a bit the first few days that I was home, I didn’t see or hear many birds at all.

Since I’ve been getting up earlier to hang out with my horses before it gets stifling hot (108 at my house yesterday), I found that the birds make their forays early. For example, this morning I saw three of my pond bird friends, the blue heron, the green heron (it chided me for making it move), and the upland sandpiper. What? Yep, every year a few of them show up and run up and down the “beach” created by the ponds losing water. I often get a yellowlegs or two but have not seen one this year.

I turned on my trusty Merlin Bird ID app to see what was out there while I walked around this morning, as well. The red-shouldered hawk was declaring its presence loudly, while the American crows (which I can now distinguish from fish crows by their calls) were answering. I enjoyed that dialog, only to have them joined by my trusty friends who never leave, the Carolina wren (at full volume), the tufted titmouse, and the cardinals. I didn’t hear the woodpecker, but I hear them often, so I believe Merlin on that one. It sounded pretty good there for a while, and I was happy to learn that my woods still had some residents.

Other birds that are still hanging around are the house sparrows (much fewer in number now than they were), vultures (black and turkey), and nighthawks who show up promptly at dusk every evening.

It’s nice to know there are still some birds of summer out there. We have lots of water sources, which help a lot, and plenty of seeds and bugs for them to eat. What birds are you seeing where you live?

PS: my photos aren’t of birds, because I haven’t been close enough to photograph any.