Summer bird roundup

For much of the summer, folks in the northern part of Wisconsin may have been having a chuckle at the dire weather reports from most of the rest of the country, as we’ve mostly had a wet summer punctuated with cool — even cold — mornings.

Even during the “heat dome” that took over the eastern U.S. in June, we had at least two days here in the middle of the state that didn’t get out of the sixties. This past week has hardly been a heat wave by national standards, but it has at least consistently felt like a Midwestern summer. And it’s early enough in the season that the warm days are still great for observing all kinds of birds and their summer activities.

I’ve written about all the nesting birds I’ve had around the new house, and some of them are still at it: we have one remaining mourning dove nesting on an outdoor speaker, which seems to be their preferred venue for rearing chicks. This is the third nest this summer on this spot, but I’m not sure if it’s the same pair of doves since they may either re-use their own nest or another dove’s. The other dove families are still around, with up to 15 or so on a given day.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds have been coming and going all summer, leaving the feeders to go sour for a couple of weeks and them draining them the next week. A couple of days ago I saw a male hummingbird doing his full-on courtship display including swooping up and down and side-to-side. I was a little surprised since male ruby-throats usually begin their fall migration fairly early, but maybe they’ll have one more brood before it’s time to go.

Non only are we inundated by baby mourning doves, we have several rose-breasted grosbeak families crowding the feeders and the shrubs in the yard. The juveniles often sit on a tree branch or on a feeder hook making mournful little whistles. The adults stopped singing early in July, although they occasionally let out a very quiet, abbreviated song around their young.

Our boisterous oriole family comes through chattering and scolding at least once a day, minus their cowbird foster sibling who, along with most of the cowbirds, has moved along. They spend most of the day down along the river and have done a number on our wild raspberry crop.

Birds that I hear but don’t see much of right now are song sparrows and indigo buntings; they sing incessantly but aren’t showing themselves much at the moment.

Birds that I expected to be around that aren’t continue to be house wrens and ovenbirds (ovenbirds were also absent in the Spread Eagle area when I visited on the holiday weekend). I did have exactly one ovenbird move through last week who offered exactly one song before continuing on its way.

After a busy spring, waterfowl around the river have been fairly scarce. There are a couple of great blue herons in the vicinity and I hope our new wood duck boxes will bring some in next spring. Our resident kingfisher, while not technically a waterfowl, has been very noisy and very busy. I do miss my regular green heron companions from the Ashland area and hope they are doing well.

The coolest bird event this week occurred during a torrential downpour on Saturday. For some reason, this toad-floater of a storm brought dozens of soaking wet birds to the feeders, including our male scarlet tanager that I’ve been hearing since the beginning of May but rarely catch sight of. He was out there in his Day-Glo colors, trying to figure out the suet feeder. He stuck around the rest of the evening but I haven’t seen him since, although I also suspect he and his family have also been guilty of berry theft.

On a final note, I think my favorite thing about the new house is that it’s a roosting spot for a surprising number of wood thrushes. I only rarely heard them when I previously lived near Wausau, but there are so many of them in the adjacent woodlands that I’m struggling to count them. It doesn’t help that they move around, singing the whole time, before they settle for the night. It has been lovely to hear them and I’m pleased that I live somewhere that supports this struggling species.

Let me know what you’re hearing and seeing around your neighborhood this summer!

Sarah Morris is a bird-watcher and outdoorswoman who explores northern Wisconsin from her home base in the town of Gingles. She can be reached at morrisoutside@gmail.com.