July: Enjoying the Birdbath

Left: A-a-h-h-h! A robin cools off splashing in a birdbath

The gloom of June is passing, and the sun is getting hot, which means that birds need water, especially moving water. Happily, there are many choices for your garden or patio. Classic birdbaths are oases where birds can drink or splash to cool off. Unless your birdbath is very shallow, be sure to create several different levels of water with flat rocks, so even the smallest birds can splash safely. A solar bubbler or our Water Wiggler will provide the moving water that attracts birds and helps keep the birdbath free of pests.

Where have the Hummingbirds gone? That's the lament of those who love to see them. But, Anna's and Allen's Hummingbirds are around, flying from flower to flower, feeding and pollinating as they go. After the big winter rains, they have so many flowers available that they come to feeders much less often. However, that bounty won't last. In summer, the wild flowers fade, as plants go dormant to survive the dry hot weather. Keep some nectar in your feeders, so hummingbirds know where the food is, when they finally need it.

 

Right: Two Hooded Orioles enjoy nectar and Birdberry Jelly

Orioles will be around until October, and right now there may be twice as many of them as when they arrived in March. That's because their young are fledging and starting to come to nectar feeders, encouraged by the parents. Keep those feeders full, as the youngsters have to put on muscle and build energy for their long fall migration back to Central America.

 

 

 

 

 Below: A plump Bushtit pauses on a twig

No one notices Bushtits. They're tiny and gray, and, as their name implies, stay in the bushes. But they're important in your yard, because they keep down the pest population. They glean trees and bushes, removing thousands of bugs. Throughout the spring they have been paired off and raising their young, but, now, as the babies mature, parents and fledglings join flocks of Bushtits flitting happily from tree to tree. They're hard to see, so the best way to find them is to use the Merlin app's Sound ID function. It will let you know when these virtually invisible little birds are in a tree right next to you.

 

Right: Goldfinches crowd a nyjer feeder

You may hate the dandelions on your lawn, but Lesser Goldfinches love them, as well as many other plants in your garden with small seeds. They also love the tiny seed, nyjer, and small chips of sunflower. Add a nyjer feeder to your yard, and you will see, not only your local goldfinches, but their newly flying youngsters as well.

Below: A mature Heermann's Gull soars over the beach (Larry Naylor)

 

 

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We're all spending more time at the beach, which means we can see one of the most beautiful of the summer and fall visitors, Heermann's Gulls. These big gulls show up in many different color schemes. The young ones are dark, then gradually get lighter and lighter heads as they mature into the white-to-dark-gray adults on the beach with red bills. 

The first summer meteor shower, the Delta Aquarids, peaks about July 30, though the first of its shooting stars can be spotted as early as July 12. The Delta Aquarids make a nice prelude to the big show of the Perseids in early August.