A ruby-throated hummingbird. (Scot Stewart photo)

“Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.”  —  Walt Whitman

Eat, sleep, observe and absorb, there are so many parts of the fresh air experience. For most, it is a walk or a hike, or maybe just a saunter around the back yard, with the garden and flower beds to see what’s new.

Connecting with the natural features of the surrounding can even include a quiet sit literally anywhere outside where the sights and sounds of the modern world can be kept at bay.

As August hits mid-stride, the days are becoming a bit shorter — sunrise today was at 6:38 a.m. and sunset tonight at 9:11 p.m, so the day is nearly an hour and a half shorter than it was at the solstice. The shorter period of daylight pushes birds to sing for shorter periods later in the morning in part because they have less time to forage and less need to sing to defend their nesting territory as many birds have fledged young already, and few other birds are looking for nesting sites.

There are lots of young and adult birds out foraging each day, so keeping wandering forages away from nesting sites makes feeding nestlings easier and more efficient.

As singing dies down, it can become more challenging to identify songsters. Bird songs can drop off in mid-phrase, leaving listeners wondering was that really a white-throated sparrow, or similar familiar species? Young of year may also try to start trying to learn songs, producing assemblages of notes that may really puzzle listeners.

Hummingbirds finally made it back into greater view, as young are fledging and both they and females look for both insects and nectar. A hummingbird dipping over leaves or seed pods may look puzzling, but hummingbirds need to eat insects and spiders to obtain the proteins they need in their diet. A hovering bird dipping continuously along the stem of a goldenrod may be plucking the aphids for an easy meal. Hummingbirds may also land on leaves after a rain, or next to a newly watered garden or lawn to drink water from the droplets remaining on the surface.

They still need the carbohydrates for energy and are currently visiting blooming basswood trees, common milkweed, monarda, beebalm, purple bellflowers and hosta flowers among others to get the nature nectars, but hummingbird feeders offer large supplies of sugar very quickly, especially to young still learning how to find food. Then there is the added problem for young of finding food not in someone else’s pantry. Gardeners may be surprised to see a hummingbird camp out over a flower bed, ready to chase away any trespassers unaware the flowers are already claimed.

Last Sunday was a rather cool, rainy day. Not too many birders got out or posted sightings, but it was a good day to bird, non-the-less. With the rain, there were plenty of worms surfacing for air to the grass of the playing fields near the Superior Dome.

The worms drew a large number of both local herring and ring-billed gulls but also drew in a small flock of lesser and greater yellowlegs. These larger shorebirds ran back and forth along the edges of flooded areas of one field looking for worms and any other insects, slugs or spiders they could find.

When migrators hit a front of rain and colder temperatures, they may be forced to land and wait for better conditions to continue. The sun broke out the next morning and they were gone.

Other shorebirds continue to work their way back south to south. Some, like sanderlings, are hardy and winter all along both ocean coasts all the way from Canada to South America. Sanderlings can travel in small family groups in the fall, but also can be seen from time to time in larger flocks. Two were seen at the mouth of the AuTrain River on Aug. 5, but on Aug. 3, a flock of 47 were seen there. While the official fall waterbird count at Whitefish Point in Chippewa County does not begin until next Saturday, Aug. 15, the ornithologist has sent occasional reports to UPBirders.com’s listserve. They have also seen sanderlings along with other sandpipers and plovers. A family of piping plovers has been a featured attraction again this summer there.

A nesting pair produced two chicks that have become favorite birds on the beach.

With three weeks of August left in the summer there is still plenty of time to enjoy a huge variety of sights, sounds aromas, and tastes of the season.

With the moisture and warm temperatures, mushrooms continue to roll out. Chanterelles and black trumpets populate the forest floor.

Blueberries were plentiful at a few sites on sandy plains, but they have become scarce.

Higher huckleberry plants are still readying their fruits to be ripe later this month. Insects continue to twist their way through the season, dragonflies switching to more larger darners, butterflies seeing newly emerged viceroys, monarchs, mourning cloaks and lots of sulfurs and cabbage whites.

Cicadas are finally singing too, a sure sign the “dog days” of summer are here. The most vocal cicada heard in some areas is named the northern dog day cicada. Their buzzing in the trees is what is heard, but almost never seen. A few roses and the basswoods leave the romance of their fragrances in the breeze.

Soak it up!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Scot Stewart is a teacher at Bothwell Middle School in Marquette and a freelance photographer.