SONGBIRDING IN MID-AUGUST
By Leonard Weber
August, 2008
In my local birding spot, Eliza Howell Park, there are about two dozen wild black cherry trees scattered over several grassy acres. These are mature trees, many of them fifty feet tall or more. While I noted their white hanging blossoms in the spring, I gave them only minimal attention, not knowing that these trees would be the focus of my mid-August birding. In August the trees are full of small cherries, ripening from red to black.
American Robins and Cedar Waxwings are the most common and most dedicated cherry eaters. As individuals and in small flocks, both species move from one tree to another, pursuing preferred fruit and/or easy picking. At least half of the robins, it appears, are juveniles with their heavily spotted breasts. And a large percentage of the waxwings have blurry streaks and lack crests, indicating that they are youngsters as well. The juvenile waxwings sport yellow tail bands, though, something that makes them seem pretty mature-like to me.
As I watch the foraging, I find my attention drawn more to the waxwings than to the robins. They are more active, more entertaining to watch. While the robins tend to grab the cherries within stretching distance of their perches, the waxwings will flit out to the cherries, sometimes hovering and sometimes even hanging upside down on the fruit clusters. By comparison, the robins seem large and a little stiff and the waxwings agile and acrobatic. It may be, of course, that I am simply succumbing to the birder’s temptation to ignore the common every-day birds when others are present. Evidence of some bias is clear a short time later: when some European Starlings arrive at the cherry tree I am watching. I pay them almost no attention at all.
In an area frequented by shorebirds, like Pointe Mouillee, August is an exciting birding month. In a park where most of the bird watching is focused on songbirds, it is easy to think of August as an in-between month. Breeding-related activities are largely finished and the first migrating warblers don’t begin arriving until near the end of the month. In Eliza Howell Park in mid-August, I no longer routinely see the Baltimore Orioles that have been common since May. The male Ruby-throated Hummingbird is no longer perching on the same dead branches from which it had watched over its territory for months. Now that their young have grown, the Red-winged Blackbirds are gone, dispersed to I know not where, no doubt joined with others in large flocks.
But the in-between month of August has its own birding identity and its own thrills. This month’s highlights revolve around fruit. In addition to cherry-tree watching, this is also the time of the year that I consider vireo season. Both Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos are summer residents of Eliza Howell, though I see them only occasionally as they forage in trees for insects. In late summer, when they expand their diets to take advantage of the ripening elderberries and other small fruits, they make themselves more visible to ground-bound humans. Seeing them can still be a challenge, but I now know to look for vireos in August in a mixed-berry patch thicket. I stand and watch. When I see leaves move, I wait for the bird to surface at the top or near end of a branch. The bird that appears may be a Gray Catbird or a robin, but often it is a vireo. There is great satisfaction in meeting a seasonal expectation.
Near the vireo berry patch, there are a couple black cherry trees at the edge of the clearing. They are close enough to good shelter so that birds – like catbirds – that avoid open areas can still have access to the hanging cherries. On one sunny morning in mid-August 2008, I made a point of watching one of these trees near the vireo berry thicket and making a list of the birds that visited the tree, however briefly. I expected to see Cedar Waxwings and robins and starlings. I did. Because of the location of the tree, I also expected to see Red-eyed Vireos and Warbling Vireos and Gray Catbirds. I did. Others not so clearly anticipated also showed up (some for the fruit, some not): a House Wren, an American Goldfinch, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, a Great crested Flycatcher, and two Eastern Kingbirds. There is only one term for seeing 12 species in one tree in one visit, regardless of the time of the year – good birding!
August birding is not just about fruit, of course. Several insect eaters regularly catch my attention as well. The Barn Swallows continue their seemingly erratic flights near the ground while the Chimney Swifts follow a similar pattern much higher up. I see more kingbirds at this time of the year than any other, sometimes perched in the cherry trees, interested not at all in the cherries, but looking for insects flying by. My favorite insect eater in August is the tiny Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. To my knowledge, the blue-gray does not breed at Eliza Howell, but is common after the breeding season. I love to watch it checking branches and leaves for insects in its energetic, non-stop fashion, giving glimpses of its white-edged tail as it flits from spot to spot.
When birding Eliza Howell in the dog days of summer, I am reminded again that every season has its own birding attractions. Soon I will be looking for Fall warblers, but I do not want to rush through mid-August.