{"id":5160,"date":"2026-07-29T05:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturestuff.net\/web\/?p=5160"},"modified":"2026-07-29T23:30:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T23:30:30","slug":"it-is-august-what-birds-can-we-expect-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturestuff.net\/web\/it-is-august-what-birds-can-we-expect-to-see\/","title":{"rendered":"It is August – What Birds Can We Expect To See?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Birds are still nesting this month and other birds are migrating this month as well. CEDAR WAXWINGS <\/strong>and AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES are late nesters in Prince Edward County and these species will be nesting on into the latter part of August. SONG SPARROWS may try a third brood this month, but with these exceptions, few birds will be seen nesting far into August. MOURNING DOVES will often produce several broods of young during the year, occasionally nesting into late September.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Cedar Waxwings will often nest late in the season. Photo by Helmer Nielsen of Odessa<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Meanwhile at the beach, while shorelines at Sandbanks are covered in August sunbathers, less busy beaches elsewhere will continue to see some evidence of shorebirds passing through as they stop to feed in mats of decaying algae along shores and in mudflats. The adults of shorebirds usually migrate first, and through July we watched as adult LESSER YELLOWLEGS and LEAST SANDPIPERS passed through. This month, others are apt to show up such as BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, RUDDY TURNSTONES, PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, SANDERLINGS, and SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, although scatterings of the latter three did occur as early this year in mid-July. The numbers of adult shorebird migrants come to a peak in late July, then tend to taper off in August as we wait for the arrival of the juveniles. By the middle of this month, our shorebird surveys at local beaches will reveal the adult birds being outnumbered by the juveniles as their numbers steadily increase. We can expect to see 20 or more species of shorebirds as they work their way south. As the juvenile shorebirds start winging their way to local beaches, we will start seeing these in the form of SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, GREATER YELLOWLEGS and SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. In the second week of August, the young of SEMIPLAMATED PLOVERS, and SANDERLINGS will appear, followed by BAIRD\u2019S SANDPIPER, RED KNOT, and RUDDY TURNSTONE<\/strong>. All of these are being reported NOW in both the Prince Edward County area, and the general Kingston area. You can follow the weekly sightings of all birds as they are posted on the NatureStuff website.<\/p>\n\n\n

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This juvenile Ruddy Turnstone should appear by the middle of this month along beaches in Prince Edward County. This one was taken at Presqu\u2019ile Park by Paul O\u2019Toole<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

By the end of August, the juveniles of PECTORAL SANDPIPER should start appearing. But, the migration of juvenile shorebirds does not end there; it continues well into September with other species, but we\u2019ll get into that with the September synopsis. These birds are on a remarkable migration that is taking them from their sub-Arctic breeding grounds, south to South America, some as far as Argentina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the forests, bird song has dwindled to a low ebb, with the exception of the RED-EYED VIREO, EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE and a few others whose songs persist through the humid days of early August. Swallows are still flocking, but no longer gathering on utility wires in the thousands as they once did several decades ago, (those days are long gone) as their numbers continue to decline perceptibly. Species such as UPLAND SANDPIPERS, BOBOLINKS, and others will be more difficult to find, at least in any great numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping a sharp eye on focal points such as Point Petre, Salmon Point and Prince Edward Point may pay off in handsome dividends as the hawk migration begins. Numbers of COOPER\u2019S HAWKS, BROAD-WINGED HAWKS and RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS may start to appear, building as the season advances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warblers, too, will be appearing in mid-August, on their southward migration. The deciduous woods along Prince Edward County\u2019s South Shore, as well as Presqu\u2019ile Park, will reveal NASHVILLE, CHESTNUT-SIDED, MAGNOLIA, CAPE MAY, BLACK-THROATED BLUE, YELLOW-RUMPED, BLACKBURNIAN<\/strong>, CANADA, BAY-BREASTED, AMERICAN REDSTART, OVENBIRD and NORTHERN WATERTHRUSHES this month. The majority of warblers passing through will be in drab fall plumage, thoughtfully referred to in the Peterson Guide as \u201cconfusing fall warblers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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If you choose to bird in the fall, you can forget the spectacular orange sunburst that the male Blackburnian Warbler is known for in the spring. This is likely as good as it gets! . Photo by Ian Dickinson of Belleville<\/mark><\/em><\/strong>
\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It is best when birding this month to spend a little time reading up on the fall plumages of birds that you may be encountering this month. Most will be drab, and in the cases of warblers, many species will resemble each other. And for those who bird entirely by ear, the difficulty in separating the fall plumaged birds will become even greater as most will not be in full song. It is this month, when volunteers at the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory return to commence the fall banding of migratory birds, that will continue right into September and October with the NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL banding program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory, click HERE<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, there\u2019s not enough reason to put away your binoculars. There is a lot around and they will be gone all too soon. Enjoy them while they are still here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Birds are still nesting this month and other birds are migrating this month as well. CEDAR WAXWINGS and AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES are late nesters in Prince Edward County and these species will be nesting on into the latter part of August. SONG SPARROWS may try…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birding","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturestuff.net\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturestuff.net\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturestuff.net\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturestuff.net\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturestuff.net\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/naturestuff.net\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5163,"href":"https:\/\/naturestuff.net\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5160\/revisions\/5163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturestuff.net\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturestuff.net\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturestuff.net\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}