Cinnamon fern


Interrupted fern

The summer visitors have settled in among the residents, at least in the bird community. Migrating birds have to arrive early so their young can be laid and incubated before the halcyon days of late spring, early summer. There’s a robin mother tucked in to a nest outside our window, the circle of white around her eye making her look watchful.


[Trillium]

Many of the spring flowers have moved on to seeds and fruit. Trilliums flowers sag and many dandelions sport tiny supernovas. Dandelion flowers still dot the lawn, and wild geraniums grace the forest. Foamflowers float above the litter of the forest floor.


[Dandelions]


[Wild geraniums]


[Foamflowers]

I was playing outside with my daughter and I noticed one of my mother-in-law’s cats tossing something furry about. It was a headless juvenile rabbit. I hadn’t noticed the cottontails were well into their reproductive season, an ignorance which the rabbits work hard to foster. The mother hides her helpless young with wood piles or leaves and grass before they’re ready to venture out among their many enemies, which includes both our dogs and cats.

The forest teems with bird movement and songs. Male birds are showy and loud as they acoustically carve out territories and woo fair maidens. Movement to and from nests by either sex is as secretive as possible. I’ve seen lots of quiet birds with bits of straw or other nest material in their mouths. One morning I had set my phone alarm in order to return home for my turn with the baby. When it went off, I heard a flutter of wings right above me. A blue jay hopped away from a mess of sticks to join a second bird nearby. They both proceeded to eye me. I hurried away, leaving them to their reproductive effort while I tended to mine.

I could seek out more nests, but now that I don’t have a field job I find my accidental encounters are enough to satisfy my curiosity. Parents abandon nests more easily than they abandon fledglings, which represent a longer investment of time and effort. Jays and other nest predators have learned during field studies to follow human trails or even watch people and their markings in order to locate nests.

Nest predators are as numerous as the rabbits’ enemies. Eggs and nestlings are convenient protein packages that even squirrels and deer are happy to munch. A brown cowbird often skulks among the young beech trees by the garden, searching for unattended nests in which to deposit her changelings.


[Brown-headed cowbird male (right) displaying for a reluctant female]

Eggs need a resting place for incubation, but chicks come in different levels of readiness. Last weekend my friend jo(e) was visiting. In the morning mist we startled a ruffed grouse, which shot away in an explosion of wings in the hope that we would either be distracted or would at least not eat her along with the twelve perfect eggs tucked into her nest. After admiring them we moved on. If they survive to hatch, twelve little chicks will trail after their mother within a day of hatching, making moving targets for their enemies.

Spring canopy color

[Baltimore oriole]