As a birder, this partnership is for you: Garden for Birds is providing free monthly guidance about using native plants to create bird-friendly habitats, and the interactive Biodiversity Map will allow you to track and share your restoration efforts alongside thousands of other birders working to improve backyard habitat. An exciting new partnership between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Garden for Birds program and Homegrown National Park is encouraging gardening with native plants and making it easier for you to access the resources needed to create bird-friendly habitats. 

As birders know, more and more people have been attracted to birding, with young people including Millennials and Gen Z-ers driving much of the recent surge in birding. During this decade, about 96 million Americans aged 16 and older identify themselves as birders according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service's latest demographic and economic survey on birding, the most comprehensive study conducted to date. That means that 37 percent of the adult population in the United States – 1 of every 3 Americans – enjoys birding. The momentum is being carried by younger adults who have been discovering birding through online communities and social media. 

On their multi-generational cattle farm near Newbern, Alabama, the Joe family was hosting an excited group of birders who watched as father Cornelius Joe drove his tractor through his hayfield, cutting alfalfa and grass to harvest, and stirring up insects in the process. This activity usually attracts the attention of Swallow-tailed Kites and even Mississippi Kites that arrive and dive after airborne insects – sometimes at eye level right in front of the visiting group of birders! This is an interesting insight into how the Joe family is leading the way in showing how ecotourism can benefit the Black Belt of Alabama and birds in the region. 

Saturday turned into a beautifully calm evening that provided good looks at a variety of duck broods on nearly still waters across prime duck nesting and brood rearing habitat – mostly Blue-winged Teal, Mallard, and Gadwall broods with a few Northern Shovelers too. Swainson's Hawks were especially obvious – more than during any summer birding drive to date, observed as singles and pairs along the way. In the area of the Ferruginous Hawk nesting territory 25 miles northwest of my office in south-central North Dakota, regular sightings of White Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, Ring-billed Gulls (including new fledglings), Great Egrets, and rarer wading birds including a Snowy Egret and late flights of groups of Western Cattle Egrets. 

The new AT Endura 75mm Swarovski Spotting Scope is being lauded for its light weight, but obviously it must be distinguished as having some of the best optical lenses and prisms produced in the world for birders. The 75mm objective lens ensures a bright, high-resolution viewing experience when using low and high magnifications – and every zoom view in between. The 21x-to-65x Zoom Eyepiece provides a fast, seamless transition from scanning birds at a distance to zooming into precise views of plumage details. The HD optics deliver clear images with natural colors, high contrast, and sharp edges every time.

With hummingbirds beginning to migrate south soon, you may have more nectar-feeding hummingbirds stop by than expected, so be prepared with a Top-Fill Hummingbird Feeder from Perky-Pet as a primary or second feeder in your yard. August & September are prime hummingbird stopover time in most areas, so check out the variety of Top-Fill Hummingbird Feeders ranging from the Diamond Wine Hummingbird Feeder to the Cactus and Pineapple Hummingbird Feeders to add style and color to your feeding station or flower garden.

As a follow-up to last week's products, if you are birding in mosquito country, which may include your backyard in some areas of the country, the bottom line is a Mosquito Bug Suit for men and women, which is actually a 6-piece full-body mosquito-net suit – no skeeters allowed! This mosquito repellent suit includes a mesh long-sleeved shirt with a hood, pants, gloves, and even socks. It covers all your body skin to keep bugs away, yet it lets air pass through so you stay cool. The full-body mosquito netting works to eliminate bites or stings from mosquitos, no-see-ums, ticks, wasps, and bees.

Last Wednesday I had a really interesting and enjoyable time in the company of recent fledgling hawks, 4 Ferruginous Hawk fledglings to be more exact. After seeing 1 fledgling initially, I followed it flying ever-closer to the rarely used farm road where I have been observing a familiar adult pair throughout the nesting season. When the fledgling landed near the road I hoped my slow, steady approach would get me within camera range. As I stopped and turned off the car’s engine, I realized there was another fledgling standing in the shade of the adjacent wooden utility pole, eating; but the fledgling that just landed was in perfect sunlight for a couple documentary photos to show the plumage of a typical Ferrug fledgling. 

Now that I was in a good position to observe the fledglings, the first fledgling walked a few steps at a time, looking down inquisitively, grabbing into the grass occasionally, perhaps reacting to movements of insects in the newly cut hayfield. Soon I also noticed the outline of a head low in the grass in front of the feeding fledgling – a third Ferrug fledgling, which was significant because I only saw 2 the past couple times I monitored the fledging progress. In fact, a fourth fledgling eventually flapped into view, originating from high grass next to the. While that may not seem significant to photography, an important part of photographing birds brings us closer to our subjects and often provides the chance to spend a little more time in their company to observe behaviors between photo bouts. 

But back to the fledgling photography ops: After feeding, the second fledgling stepped into the sunlight and looked around a moment, which made me pre-focus on the young hawk in case it interacted with a sibling or took flight. That happened to be intuitive, because without notice the hawk took flight, actually turning in my direction as it veered from its takeoff course, thereby providing a nice spread-wing flight image. With that fledgling satiated and landing 150 yards north, the first hawk walked to the food source and began spreading its wings high above its back, then jumping in the air, spinning, flapping, jumping again and again, all while holding the remnants of a Richardson’s Ground Squirrel in its talons during most of the actions. 

To me, this looked like a “play-hunting” or “practice-hunting” behavior that precedes actual hunting and continues through the post-fledging period while raptors learn to hunt small rodents on their own. The action continued on and off for a few minutes, providing a number of photo opportunities as the young hawk appeared to be rejuvenated as the temperature cooled from heat that reached the 90s throughout the week. With my camera’s Al Servo set at “continuous,” when I depressed the shutter button continuously, my camera took 5 photographs per second, providing an exciting fast-action series of photographs as the hawk jumped into action. It was a very fun opportunity and I made the most of it. 

As the fledgling became more active, I zoomed my lens back to a lower magnification to increase the area surrounding the hawk in the photo frame, but the hawk surprised me by jumping higher than anticipated. As a result, the ends of the wing feathers were often beyond the top of the photo frame. And even though the lighting was good, the young hawk kept its back to the sun most of the time, and with all the wing flapping action and twists and turns on the ground and above ground, shadows were a factor in several photos. However, that’s where reviewing and editing photos comes in – and the review process and photo cropping can be the most important part of adding to the details of any photo, after you manage to take some quality photographs to choose from. Even so, this was one of my best opportunities to photograph the early hunting practice of young birds of prey to date, and they stand among my best photos of fledgling hawks. 

The period after young birds leave the nest is an especially important post-fledging learning period, when they learn to fly and, in the case of young raptors, learn to hunt – all while under the protection and of the adults that also provide food during the weeks after leaving the nest. Neither the fledglings nor the adults were concerned about the presence of my parked car, which I use as a mobile photo blind; but I always keep the birds in mind and back away if I get the impression the birds are not comfortable. The birds’ well-being always comes first, and that is especially true during the post-fledgling period. But it was clear that these hawks were not only unconcerned, but were behaving in very natural, rarely observed ways. Good Luck during all your bird photography outings, and keep your camera within reach – you never know when an interesting bird will alight within sight. 

                        Article and Photographs by Paul Konrad

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