21.07.2023 - 23:10 / awaytogarden.com

birdnote q&a: dawn chorus quiets, but what are birds doing in midsummer?

WONDER WHY the living alarm clock outside your open window—the one that’s been awakening you at 4-something A.M. since spring arrived—isn’t sounding? What suddenly happened to the insistent dawn chorus of birds; why isn’t everyone still singing? Turns out many of them are busy with other things, says Ellen Blackstone of the popular BirdNote public-radio show, our guide again for this latest installment in our collaborative series on understanding birds. What they’re up to–and what we gardeners can offer them right now:

“Like the week in Lake Wobegon, it’s been mostly quiet,” says Ellen. “For the most part, the birds have stopped singing.” Turning their attention away from establishing territories, finding mates and having families—what the songs were mostly about—they’ve shifted focus. “Some birds even lose the ability to sing after the breeding season is over,” she adds (learn more about that in this BirdNote show and transcript).

In the Q&A that follows, Ellen’s answers contain green links to audio files from BirdNote’s archive that you won’t want to miss. A recap of earlier stories in our series is at the bottom of the page, along with information on how to get BirdNote daily.

the midsummer bird q&a with ellen blackstoneQ. So what are the birds doing as we enter midsummer?

A. Many birds–wrens, robins, and others–may raise more than one brood in a breeding season. Depending on what part of the country you call home, your local birds may still be feeding fledglings, or those young ones might be completely independent by now.

Young raptors–those owls, hawks, and falcons–are learning to hunt for themselves, like this great horned owl family in summer. Osprey juveniles also hang around with their parents for a while. (Photo

birds Nature bird sh-t Ellen Blackstone county Lake