Our Summer Birds
by Lauretta Young

Summer is a time for birds to feast on the nectar in the flowers, the bugs and caterpillars on the plants, the worms in the ground and the abundant fish in the ponds. This past week, the family of Belted Kingfishers, which regularly visit the backyard pond in the Bethany Wetlands, has been a source of amusement. The adult pair has successfully raised chicks every year now for several seasons. It is so delightful to hear them do their “rattle call” which is almost like a celebration “hip-hip-hooray” when they catch a small frog or fish and fly up to a tree branch exclaiming loudly about their catch. These birds are easy to see and very easy to hear.

Bald Eagle in Cedar Mill, June 2012. © Jeff Young

I have also watched with interest as the Bald Eagle, the Osprey, and the Great Blue Heron pluck small fish and frogs and occasionally snakes out of the wetlands. The Bald Eagle used to be a rather infrequent visitor but this year we see one or two almost every week out hunting at the edge of the pond.

I think the winner this year for breeding success in Cedar Mill has to be the Spotted Towhee—I have never seen as many juveniles. They seem to eat the same things as the various sparrows, since I see them all busily scratching under bushes.

While it may have seemed like a really cool summer in terms of weather, and many of us wish for more sun—I have had birding clients from other parts of the country suffering from record temperatures and drought who find our coolness to be incredibly refreshing. When I hear them talk about never ending humidity or water shortages I feel really fortunate to live where it is green and the mornings are cool. Also of course it’s more fun to go birding in the morning when it’s not so hot!

Birds are in fact most active in the morning compared to other times of day. They too have rested all night and need to break their fast by getting going in the morning. Our new (indoor) kitten finds incredible delight at watching the early morning birds at our feeder. Last week we had quite the assortment—I casually counted for about an hour and it was around 45 different species – from woodpeckers to nuthatches and sparrows and wrens and Grosbeaks and the Towhees.

I know it’s truly summer when the wild blackberries ripen and the California quail chicks start to show up in the yard running through the open spaces rapidly to get back to cover. They also take “dust baths” so it’s fun to see the indentations they make, even if I haven’t seen them that morning—I know they’ve been by and I just missed them. When I do pick the blackberries I often “flush” quite the group of quail. The record of chicks I saw this year was 24!

The sounds of summer are different than those of our winter visitors. Some of our Goldfinches do leave for places further south. The Rufous Hummingbirds as well as the Green Herons and the Black Headed Grosbeaks I have so enjoyed hearing in our back yard will soon depart. They will of course be replaced with our winter birds that have spent the summer eating the abundant mosquitoes and other insects in the northern parts of Canada and Alaska.

Paying attention to what is in our yards allows us to be distracted for a few moments from the layers of our busy minds. It gives us a new perspective, it can give us joy to hear a lovely song and it makes us aware of how alive we are in this moment. Get outside, choose to look and listen. Notice how some of the daily tensions may lessen.

Lauretta Young MD is Director of Integrative Self Care for Students Initiative at OHSU and teaches stress management in public health at PSU and takes birders from Cedar Mill and beyond on private guided birding tours. See her web site at www.portlandbirdwatching.com. Her husband Jeff is an accomplished wildlife photographer. Check out more photos at Jeff Young’s web site at www.flickr.com/photos/youngbirders

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