Bird Watching in July

Nesting species continue to perform their parental duties for most of the month. Summer walks in the cool ravines associated with local watersheds can provide rewarding bird watching for even the most hardened of field observers. The joy of finding a Hooded Warbler feeding its young or stumbling onto the nest of an Ovenbird cannot be soon forgotten. July provides birders a chance to reflect on past years when shore birding was a mainstay of local bird watching. The influence of Lake Erie on species abundance cannot be fully appreciated without sifting through the archives of The Cleveland Bird Calendar and drooling over the many records of rarities. Researchers will find that the region has been a stop over point for many exciting southbound waders over the years in late July.

If habitat is available, particularly along Lake Erie, shorebirds in breeding plumage returning from the Arctic arrive in good numbers. American Avocets, Whimbrels and Willets have a well-documented occurrence in July. The rarest shorebird to arrive in July was a breeding-plumaged Curlew Sandpiper in July 1984. Post nesting singing gradually wanes while Wood Thrushes, Eastern Bluebirds and American Robins are busy rearing second and sometimes third broods. Late nesters, such as American Goldfinches and Cedar Waxwings, are busy with their parental duties. The first indication of southbound migrations will be the gathering of Yellow Warblers and Baltimore Orioles at sites along the Lake Erie shoreline towards the end of July.

No meeting planned in July. Click Here for time and location of future meetings.