Last week I wrote about the joys of birding in the sweltering August heat. A few days after writing the column, I took my own advice and visited a beach on Long Island Sound in southern Connecticut.

It turns out that I actually know what I am talking about every so often as I had a great time looking at the birds along the shore. The action started before I walked out of the parking lot as three ospreys soared overhead. Their “ki-ki-ki” call drew my attention and subconsciously turned my eyes upward to the sky.

As I walked along the shrubby area to get to the beach, a catbird and a few song sparrows provided a warm-up for the birding action that lay just ahead.