The Bird of Summer

[Jim B]

Almost everybody has a bird that they associate with the coming of spring. I know when the phoebes arrive here so has spring.

Yesterday I saw the first of what I consider to be the harbinger of summer. A Spotted Sandpiper standing on the rocks by the river out back.

What are you seeing?

(looks like cw broke the spell checker lol)

[cwl50?]

LOL Jim! My checker works jusk frine!

[Jim B]

Yep, it is werkin now...

So what bird do you see and think, "It's summertime ! "

[cwl50?]

Blue Birds and Martins....BTW the wife and I went to the Purple Martin capital this past week. They have a Martin pole with 520 nest compartments in it. LOL Life in the Midwest is exciting. Close to home however only about 100 miles away from home for me.

Here is a link if anyone wants to see it.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/ILGRIpurple.html

[sweetpea in pa]

The gray catbird, one of my favorites.

[veery]

That's a great story about purple martins. I wonder if the majority of the units get martins living in them. Did farmers always have martin houses, and did martins decline as small farms disappeared--or did pesticides kill off a lot of birds?

It's hard to single out a particular species that signals summer--there are so many to chose from. I guess maybe Baltimore oriole for early summer and common nighthawk for late August. Right now we are enjoying the sight of fledglings following adults around, sometimes begging for food--house finches, killdeers, kingbirds, song and chipping sparrows. The other day we found a yellow warbler foraging, grabbing a bug, and making a beeline for its insistent nestling--a young brown-headed cowbird! Oh well, maybe someday science will reveal that cowbirds fulfill some high ecological purpose.

[Starzz]

The gray catbird, one of my favorites.

I have 3 gray catbirds coming to the grape jelly this year! Usually they stay a few weeks when they first arrive in the spring, then they stop eating the jelly, but not this year! They are great birds to watch!

[Jim B]

Well, summer has finally hit New England!!! Three days in row are going to be 90 degrees or better. Cool summer yardbird - Black-crowned Night Heron

[Laura]

Bird of summer:

White wing dove. They come north in the summer from Mexico to enjoy the fruit of the saguaro cactus.