August is a busy time for many bird species
Editor’s note: After seven years of highlighting New Mexico’s feathered denizens, Mary Schmauss is retiring from the “Birding in New Mexico” column. From hummingbirds to Canada geese to sandhill cranes, Mary brought years of birding experience into her vivid descriptions of the bird life that also call New Mexico home. For her last column, Mary looks at how birds spend a busy August month.
August is a busy time for many bird species. Some birds are still nesting, while others are leaving their summer nesting territory and migrating south to where they will spend the winter.
By August, most birds have finished nesting and raising their young. One exception is the lesser goldfinch. This cute little yellow bird at only 4.5 inches in length, with black and white wings and a black cap (females are overall a dull yellow), doesn’t begin nesting until July.
July is when their natural food supply of sunflower, coneflower and cosmos seeds are most abundant. August is the time to watch for juvenile lesser goldfinches, which have left the nest, perch alongside a parent and flap their wings with beaks wide open begging for food. Young birds who have already fledged (left the nest) are often the same size as the parent, but this begging behavior identifies them as juveniles. This species is a year-round resident in most of New Mexico and does not migrate.
For other species, August signals the time for migration to their winter territory to begin. Most birds do not migrate, but for those that do, the distance can vary significantly. The Say’s phoebe is a 7.5 inches long flycatcher with an overall pale gray body, light rufous belly and short narrow beak.
This attractive and hardy flycatcher has a short distance migration. Like most flycatchers, this phoebe relies on insects as its main food supply. The mild winters in parts of New Mexico offer enough insects to keep some of these phoebes close to their summer nesting territory during the winter months. I often see a Say’s phoebe all winter in my Albuquerque neighborhood.
The Western kingbird is also in the flycatcher family of birds and is dependent upon insects for its main food supply, but unlike the Say’s phoebe, this flycatcher is a mid-to-long range migrant. It is fairly large at 8.75 inches in length with a pale yellow breast, light gray head and a dark tail with white edges. August is the month it begins its migration to Mexico and Central America. This species is one of my favorite summer residents, and I am always a bit sad when it leaves.
This month be sure to watch for all the late summer activity from our feathered friends when out for a hike, a walk or in your own backyard.
Mary Schmauss is the owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Albuquerque. A lifelong birder and author of “For the Birds: A Month-by-Month Guide to Attracting Birds to your Backyard.”