Canada Warbler by Dorrie Holmes/Macaulay Library
This month’s eBirder of the month challenge, sponsored by Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, encourages going birding year-round. For many birders, July is thought of as an ‘off-month’; a time to take a bit of a breather between the delight of May and the excitement of August and September. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is perceived as the doldrums of summer, when breeding birds are at their quietest, and in the midst of the lull between June song and August migration. For many Southern Hemisphere birders, it is the dead of winter—lacking in song and the excitement of the spring that is soon on its way. Due to the lack of regular coverage, July has great potential to uncover novel movements for birds undergoing post-breeding dispersal, or hitherto unknown winter wanderings. All you have to do to find out is get out and see what you can find. The eBirder of the month will be drawn from eBirders who submit 31 or more complete no-X checklists in July. What better excuse to get out and bird? Winners will be notified by the 10th of the following month.
July is perhaps the slowest month of the year for birding on a global scale. eBirders enter fewer checklists this month than in any other. Those that do go birding tend to focus on looking for shorebirds, seabirds, or other non-songbirds. However, July’s birding holds much more than just this, and many mysteries could be awaiting discovery in your local patch of forest or scrub! This brief window after the peak of breeding season is full of many exciting possibilities. Family groups with recently-fledged birds are wandering across the landscape, turning up in unexpected places. Post-breeding dispersal is happening on a large scale—birds that have finished the breeding season can gather into large groups, or turn up where they don’t normally belong.
This is a great time of year to check your local patch, or keep an eye out in the yard—great potential for some new additions to those lists from these dispersing birds, or to witness large flocks of birds heading to roost around dawn and dusk. In eastern North America, this is often evidenced by movements of species with fairly specialized habitat requirements—e.g., Blackburnian Warbler, Canada Warbler, Hooded Warbler—moving across the landscape into edge habitats or wooded wetlands.
In other parts of the world, some species may take part in molt migration—moving from their breeding haunts to a new region where they’ll replace flight feathers in preparation for the oncoming migration. Many grassland and marsh-loving species are moving around at this time of year as well; checking a nice-looking field or your local patch of reeds may yield some unexpected results.
Whatever your bird community is, things are happening in July that can result in some fun sightings. July is full of potential, and with your help we can broaden our collective understanding of this understudied time of year. A checklist a day keeps the boredom away!
Each month we will feature a new eBird challenge and set of selection criteria. The monthly winners will each receive a new ZEISS Conquest HD 8×42 binocular.
Carl Zeiss Sports Optics is a proven leader in sports optics and is the official optics sponsor for eBird. “Carl Zeiss feels strongly that by partnering with the Cornell Lab we can provide meaningful support for their ability to carry out their research, conservation, and education work around the world,” says Mike Jensen, President of Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, North America. “The Cornell Lab is making a difference for birds, and from the highest levels of our company we’re committed to promoting birding and the Lab’s work, so there’s a great collaboration. eBird is a truly unique and synergistic portal between the Lab and birders, and we welcome the opportunity to support them both.”
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