Date: 8/14/25 7:24 pm From: Matt S. <accipiter22...> Subject: [MASSBIRD] August 14, 2025 Quiet out there - Hello from the NH/MA border!
August 14, 2025 Quiet Out I have mentioned that I have a listening device outside that picks up bird calls. The accuracy is decent but not great. But one of the interesting parts is seeing the number of species it picks up each day. Granted, about 1/3 of them are miscategorized, but still. During migration there were days at probably 50 species or close to it. During the earlier summer it would still pick up 30. Today it picked up 18. I realized today I have barely seen or heard the red-bellied woodpeckers, and when I checked the history on that device it showed they have been detected only every few days. The red-belly is one of the species it picks up pretty accurately too, so I generally believe it, particularly when it matches my own observations. One called today a single time. The goldfinches have been the dominant bird, but even they have piped down a bit. Whatever bird was detected the most during winter, or spring, or even into mid-summer would be detected maybe 200 times, and other common species over 100. Today the goldfinch was at 85, the hummingbirds at 47, the titmouse 41 times, and nothing else even above 30.
As I gardened with Mari around 7:00 this evening I noticed how much darker it was getting. A barred owl was calling while we were out there, and the dragonflies are swarming up in the air like they did last year. A solitary great blue heron flew over in the evening. Yard #95. Probably the last new one I will add for this first year here, with August 26th coming up again. When we were setting up the house last year in mid-August, Wendy thought she saw one flyover, but was not sure. It took until now to see one again. I heard an eastern pewee calling from near the Merrimac border. I have not heard the orioles in some time; I remember reading that the adult males are one of the first birds to leave, by early August they are moving out.
Yesterday I was noting that the house wren young appeared extremely close to fledging, they were practically hanging out of the nest box on the fence. I got some video of them a couple of days ago, I realized time to do so was running short. Good thing I did, because this morning I noticed the parents were not going to the box anymore, and I could hear them chattering from other parts of the yard, the nest box empty. I am shocked the male successfully bred; he did not show up until July 7th and a female did not arrive until July 11th. Congrats to them.
I cannot believe the 4th of July was over 5 weeks ago, it seems like 2. This happens every year it seems; the summer starts and goes by at a modest clip, then somewhere in late July the days start slipping by and I look up and August is almost over. Every year around July 27th I notice that the light takes on that golden tone of late summer, no longer the pure clear light that bakes us through the first third of summer. Just after that date every year is when I seem to lose two or three weeks in the blink of an eye.
The land is warm still, the sunlight is turning golden yellow, and things are definitely quieter out.
