We are moving into the doldrums of summer. Gone are the fast pace days of spring when the pre-dawns are filled with hundreds of singing birds and the cool nights are filled with a million calling frogs. At this time of year most of the birds are wrapping up nesting. The fevered pitch of spring-time nesting is over for another year. It’s time for the adult birds and their young to have a few weeks of relative calm and prosperity before moving into the next phase of avian life. 

That is not to say that all nesting is over. Oh no, there are still some hyper-reproductive birds out there. House Wrens and Cardinals are good examples of birds that are working on a second batch of babies. I am listening to a batch of young House Wrens begging for food as I write this. Eastern Bluebirds also mustard up the reproductive power to produce another clutch of nestlings for the year. Not to mention the American Goldfinch, one of the latest nesting birds, who are just getting started on their nesting efforts.

Most of the larger birds only nest once a season. As I write this from the deck of my cabin I am watching a nesting pair of Osprey feed their two chicks. It will take many meals of fish to grow these chicks to flight size. Once they are large enough the process of learning to fly will take several more weeks and learning to catch their own fish is another solid month or more.

While contemplating the life of the Osprey, several Common Loons are flying overhead. Their stuttering tremolo call echo’s off the forest walls that surround the lake. They too will need the rest of the summer for their young to grow and develop enough hunting skills to survive. Hunting for fish is not an easy skill to master and the loon babies will need to be extremely proficient before they migrate at the end of summer.

Speaking of fishing, the Belted Kingfisher, a large robin sized bird blue and white bird who hunts fish for a living will now spend the rest of the summer teaching their offspring to catch fish. This species is truly amazing when it comes to the art of instruction. Once the young kingfishers can fly well enough to follow their parents the real work begins. The adults will fly to one of their favorite hunting spots. The young will follow and perch along side of their parents to get a front row seat on the action. The adults wait for a small minnow to swim near the waters surface. Suddenly they dive off the perch, head first, plummeting towards the water. They enter the water beak first, often completely submerging their entire body to grab the fish. They bob to the surface then fly back to the perch with the minnow in their beak.

Now the hunting lesson begins. The adult Kingfisher takes the still wriggling minnow and bangs it several times against the branch stunning the fish. When sufficiently subdued the adult drops the minnow back into the water underneath the perch for the young Kingfisher to practice their diving and catching. Apparently there are no free lunches in the Kingfisher world. Their young must work for their meal.

Over and over again the adult Kingfishers dives in for another minnow, returns to the perch, bangs the minnow against the branch and tosses the fish back into the water. The youngsters will need many attempts to get it right and are able to hunt for themselves.

So as we move into the doldrums of summer there are still some amazing things to see in nature. You just may need to use a little more mosquito spray and sun block. Until next time…