Summer’s bounty

You can feel the changes in seasons already.  Early mornings are cooler, the days are shorter and the forests are noticeably quieter having lost many of the singing migratory birds to parts south. I like this time of year a lot. There is still plenty of warm weather to come for those of us who think in terms of “half full” rather than “half empty” and there is even more to see in our woods and meadows than in previous months.

 The wild berries including blackberries, raspberries and blueberries are ripening and providing a feast for birds, particularly migratory birds that need to bulk up before their journey south.  Mammals including black bears also enjoy their sweetness. I watched a chipmunk on a log the other day literally devouring the berries from an overhanging raspberry bush, something I had never seen before.

Fields are awash with the colors of late-blooming plants including wild bergamot, jewelweed, common mullein, common milkweed and goldenrod.  Thistle plants have matured and are providing seeds for many species of birds, particularly goldfinches. In fact, you will notice that male goldfinches are still in their bright yellow breeding plumages as they are late nesters, waiting until the end of the summer so as to be able to feed their babies thistle seed.

The antlers on white-tailed deer bucks should be fully grown by now and depending on their age, they should be starting to rub the velvet off their antlers by the end of the month. Soon we will be seeing the tell-tale sign of buck rubbings on tree saplings after being scraped up by male deer on a mission.

For me, a sure sign of the changing seasons is the sound of the katydid. We are hearing them now, and if you listen to them as the weeks progress, you will hear their cadence slow as the temperature dips. There is something soothing about the sound of the katydid. Maybe it’s the continuous rhythm in an otherwise silent night; go out and take a listen!

 Scott Heth is the director of Audubon Sharon and may be reached at sheth@audubon.org, (subject line: Nature Notes).