The doldrums of summer are coming up on us fast. Now that the fevered pitch of spring is over you can almost hear Mother Nature give a huge sigh of relief. She has done her best to repopulate the birds and animals and now she is tired. Time to rest and recoup before getting ready for autumn.
I for one am always disappointed at this time of year. For the past two months I have been running all around this great nation of ours trying to capture images of nature’s creatures–large and small. Spring is the busiest time of year for me as a naturalist and wildlife photographer. There are so many photographic opportunities in spring that it can make my head spin. I often feel like I don’t know which way to turn next. I look one way and I see cool birds nesting but look another way and see even cooler animals. It’s enough to drive a guy like me crazy. But by the first couple weeks of July it all changes. The dog-days of summer have set in and Mother Nature shuts off the reproduction factory and concentrates on subsisting.
Looking back at this past spring, it can be summed up very simply. All the birds, bugs, reptiles, amphibians and mammals were having babies. Some of these succeeded and others didn’t. Simple as that. Some were lucky and others were not. The facts are, if every single baby bird, mammal or what-have-you that was born or hatched survived we would be overrun with all sorts of critters. Besides many of the young born every year go to feed those who have come before. I had my own personal tragic story relating to this very thing. My beloved Purple Martin colony was doing great. I had six families, each with five babies that hatch. One week later when I checked on my martin babies there were only three babies. The doors of a couple nesting compartments had be ripped off and laid on the deck. I carefully put the doors back on and cleaned up the mess. The following morning the doors were again removed and the remaining three babies were gone. In just two nights all my martin babies were gone. I figured a raccoon found my colony and helped himself. Dang that one hurt.
During the doldrums of summer the birds start to look rather road weary and beat up. Their feathers look worn out and disheveled. All the effort raising the young takes a toll on the parents, wearing out their feathers prematurely. By the end of summer the old worn out feathers will drop out one by one and be replaced with a new set of feathers. In addition they will add approximately one third more feathers in preparation for winter.
A few species of bird will produce a second or third brood of babies during summer. The Eastern Bluebird and the Northern Cardinal are good examples. But most birds will wait until next spring to give another shot at reproduction. Nearly all the large mammals such as fox and coyote will also wait another year. Black Bears will wait two years. However, Smaller critters such as squirrels and mice can reproduce all summer long and well into fall.
But for me these lazy hazy days of summer are filled with visions of cool autumn days with blazing fall colors set against a deep blue sky and fat and sassy animals ready for the coming winter. Until next time
Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist who travels the US to study and photograph wildlife. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com