Late Summer Nature And a Note About Avian Emotions

As summer winds down, some activity in nature does as well. Many birds have finished caring for their new offspring. Those who migrate elsewhere for the winter are getting ready to leave (or may have started their journeys). And some who stay in our area will be exchanging their vibrant spring/summer colors, like the male American goldfinch above, for drabber and less showy winter hues.

Butterflies are still visiting flowers, but their numbers are slowly beginning to dwindle. The same is true for the dragonflies. One species I’ve been seeing everywhere is a favorite: the common buckeye. When seen from the side, they have an interesting wing pattern but it’s when they settle down to spread their wings wide that we see how gorgeous their coloring is.

Other butterflies and the diminished number of remaining dragonflies are also a delight to see. I was surprised to see a pair of Halloween pennant dragonflies in mating mode, as it is late in the season for that. Nearby a giant robber fly arrived with a lucky catch: a green dragonfly which was even larger in size than the fly — a good-sized meal to be sure.

Top left: Common buckeye butterfly. Top center: Spicebush swallowtail butterfly. Top right: Silver-spotted skipper butterfly. Bottom left to right: Sleepy orange butterfly; mating Halloween pennant dragonflies; giant robber fly with dragonfly prey; Eastern swallowtail butterfly. Photos by ©Maria de Bruyn.

When nature is quiet on my walks because the birds are resting or foraging elsewhere and the bugs are lying low, it’s interesting to keep an eye out for the varied fungi that have emerged. Some make me think of parasols or tiny buildings in a fairyland, populated by various bugs and froglets.

While looking down for interesting mushrooms, I occasionally come across some of our reptilian neighbors. A large black rat snake was traversing a field and then going down a walking path at Blackwood Farm Park. Several people saw it and stopped to admire the snake as it passed by. A beautiful green snake, on the other hand, went largely unnoticed during another of my outings.

Top left and right: Fungi that provide homes and resting places for small creatures; note the slug lying on the right-hand mushrooms. Bottom left: Eastern rat snake. Bottom right: Rough green snake. Photos by ©Maria de Bruyn.

The birds that have been most entertaining for me in August are the ruby-throated hummingbirds. From 2 to 10 have been visiting my yard, so I’ve kept 5-7 feeders filled with sugar water. There are also numerous flowering plants that offer natural nectar, so they have plenty of sustenance.

These birds are in constant motion. Occasionally, they take a rest and very briefly nap or preen their feathers. They don’t sit still for long though and zoom off in pursuit of rivals in a continuous aerial ballet.

Top left: Male hummingbird beginning to get his colorful throat feathers (gorget). Top center: Adult male hummer with developed gorget. Top right: female hummingbird taking a nap. Bottom photos: hummingbird rivals claiming feeder and flower territories as their own. Photos by ©Maria de Bruyn.

Their feisty temperament means that they spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to drive away any other hummers that visit the feeders they particularly like. They are so jealous of their space that they even chase away the Carolina chickadees that like to drink the water in the ant guards from which the feeders are suspended.

It is not only the hummers that can be irritable birds, however. The past week at Jordan Lake, I saw one great egret being chased away from a small lake island by other egrets. One bird even chased the beleaguered bird away from another perch near the lake shore. During another outing, I saw a great blue heron fly from the shoreline where it had been fishing over to a stump in the lake where a double-crested cormorant had been sunning. The cormorant had been there minding its own business for at least an hour, but the heron flew over making a loud commotion to scare it away. Once the cormorant flew off, the heron resumed fishing elsewhere. (The cormorant later made its way back to its favorite perch.)

Top: Two egrets arrive to drive away a third while another just watches from under a tree. Bottom: turtles gaze at a great blue heron that just drove away a cormorant from its customary perch. Photos by ©Maria de Bruyn.

Scientists are now coming to understand that avian species do indeed have and express various emotions:

• https://biologyinsights.com/do-birds-have-feelings-the-science-behind-avian-emotions/
• https://learnbirdwatching.com/do-birds-have-feelings-and-emotions/

Many people who feed birds or who are dedicated birders can also attest to the fact that birds interact in varied ways with other birds as well as with people. For example, crows are known to leave gifts for humans they like. A recent feature on a morning news program featured a goose that adopted a neighborhood and became a favored companion for many people. When he died after 8 years, they erected a memorial for him next to their neighborhood pond. For anyone interested in a personal account of human-bird relationships, I’d recommend reading Mozart’s Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt. And if you’ve had interesting encounters with wild animals, please share about them in the comments section for this column.