Today is the last day before I head back to California, and a beautiful, warm morning for a feeder watch. The last northern-bound migrants finished passing through Forsyth county a few weeks ago. We currently only have breeding birds until shorebird migration and post breeding dispersal begin again in a month. Landbird migration will follow, not beginning in earnest until late-August. Overall, the backyard has been a bit quieter lately. While there still is a decent dawn chorus, the heat and the business of raising families has reduced a lot of the singing in the middle of the day. Birding is definitely now an early morning activity.

6:00 Start of observation hour. Already Song Sparrow, Carolina Wren, Tufted Titmouse and American Robin singing. Within the first minute, I also hear a Blue Jay and Common Grackle call.

6:02 A Gray Catbird flies into the yard. A House Finch and an Eastern Towhee call.

6:04 A European Starling flies over. A Tufted Titmousegrabs a seed from the feeder—my first customer of the morning.

6:05 Dawn officially breaks. A Northern Cardinal joins the morning chorus.

6:06 I hear a distant Mourning Dove and Downy Woodpecker.

6:08 Two male robins aggressively chase each other through the year.

6:12 A catbird visits the platform feeder. This feeder is new addition to our backyard array, and while setting out oranges on it to attract orioles has been a bust so far, it’s a big hit with the catbirds and towhees.

6:13 A Great Crested Flycatcher flies into the top of our acacia tree and begins calling loudly. We didn’t see this species last summer, but one bird has been hanging around the front yard since late May.

6:17 A Chimney Swift flies low overhead

6:22 The finches and cardinals are singing vociferously

6:25 A White-Breasted Nuthatch flies into our walnut tree and descends to the feeder

6:26 I spot a newly fledged robin in our oak, its spotted breast blending in well in the dappled light.

6:29 Brown-Headed Nuthatches are calling from the neighbor’s yard. They’ve been mostly absent all summer until showing back up a couple days ago.

6:32 A few American Crows fly by calling

6:33 A cicada begins calling briefly. A sure sign of summer, they started their clamorous chorus in earnest about a week ago.

6:35 Grackles and Blue Jays descend into the yard.

6:35 A Carolina Chickadee begins calling.

6:37 I spot a Great Blue Heron flying high overhead.

6:45 An Eastern Bluebird family (male, female, and fledgling) are in an oak tree across the street

6:50 The Downy Woodpecker comes to the feeder, and pigs out on seeds for the remainder of the watch

6:58 I walk to the back of the yard, and in quick succession hear a Fish Crow, Red-Bellied Woodpecker and spot a Brown Thrasher, the last birds of the watch.

Total: 24 Species.

Most notable: Great Blue Heron. While common in the area, we don’t really have any nearby wetlands or open fields nearby, which are the typical haunts of this species. This is the first time I’ve seen a heron (of any kind) from our place—and it’s my 57^th species for the yard.

Strangest misses: The Red-bellied Woodpecker and Brown Thrasher I identified in the closing seconds would have both been big misses, as they are quite common summer residents. The local birds of both species have already fledged chicks, and are therefore keeping a lower profile than in the spring, when they were calling and singing almost constantly. Probably the next most likely bird that I didn’t see is a Northern Flicker. I see them most days, but it’s not strange at all to go an hour without one. A Brown-headed Cowbird visited the platform feeder 20 minutes after my watch ended.

Comparisons: As expected, I totaled fewer birds than spring, but more than winter. Nineteen birds overlapped with the spring watch, and five birds were new.