Photo by Chris Bosak A veery at Huntington State Park in Redding, CT, May 2026.
It’s still too early to declare my Bird of the Summer, but one bird has become the clear favorite.
Of course, catbirds and robins are always common sightings in the summer, and I have certainly seen many of those on my recent walks. But ever since early May, my walks seem to be dominated by veeries.
Veeries are thrushes and indeed closely resemble the more common hermit thrush and wood thrush. There are some obvious differences, however, as veeries are a warmer reddish-brown overall with fewer and lighter spots on their chests.
Photo by Chris Bosak A rose-breasted grosbeak perches in a bush at Huntington State Park in Redding, Connecticut, summer 2026.
One of the main reasons why male birds are often more colorful than females was on full display during a recent bird walk.
As I noted in a recent column, summer is an ideal time for birdwatching and observing parent birds raising their young. Finding a nest is always exciting, but it isn’t necessary to confirm that birds are busy caring for youngsters nearby.
Father birds were particularly on edge during my recent walk. I got about halfway down the path when a male rose-breasted grosbeak darted across the trail in front of my face and landed in a nearby shrub. It was clearly agitated by my presence as it fluffed its feathers and chirped an alarm call.
I didn’t want to linger and fluster the bird even more, so I kept on my way.
Photo by Chris Bosak A male bobolink perches in a field in Brookfield, Connecticut, summer 2026.
Just a few bobolinks I met the other day on a walk.
Photo by Chris Bosak A female bobolink perches in a field in Brookfield, Connecticut, summer 2026.Photo by Chris Bosak A bobolink perches in a field in Brookfield, Connecticut, summer 2026.
Photo by Chris Bosak A rose-breasted grosbeak perches in a bush at Huntington State Park in Redding, Connecticut, summer 2026.
Here are a few male rose-breasted grosbeaks I met on a recent walk.
Photo by Chris Bosak A rose-breasted grosbeak perches in a bush at Huntington State Park in Redding, Connecticut, summer 2026.Photo by Chris Bosak A rose-breasted grosbeak perches in a bush at Huntington State Park in Redding, Connecticut, summer 2026.
Photo by Chris Bosak A warbling vireo sings from a perch in New England.
Last year I wrote about finding a house wren and not being able to find it on the eBird list only to discover that the name of the bird had been officially changed to northern house wren.
Well, this year, there were two more similar name changes. First, the yellow warbler is now the northern yellow warbler. I think most people will continue to call it yellow warbler for years to come, but the familiar, loquacious yellow bird that nests throughout New England is, indeed, now the northern yellow warbler.
Photo by Chris Bosak Yellow warbler at Huntington State Park, Redding, CT. Yellow warblers are common summer sightings throughout New England.
Summer gets a bad rap for birdwatching.
Sure, it’s not as exciting as the spring migration when every day is a new discovery and a whirlwind of birding activity, but the summer has its own rewards. The most exciting part of summer birdwatching, of course, is discovering nesting activity and watching young birds grow. There’s much more to summer birdwatching, however.
First, let’s acknowledge some of the challenges to birdwatching in the summer. Finding a bird in the woods becomes extremely difficult as the leaves are out in full force. You can drive yourself batty trying to find an eastern wood pewee high atop a leafed-out maple or oak.
Birds are also much less vocal in the summer than they are in the spring. Very often in birdwatching, birds are heard before they are seen. You hear a bird, look in that direction, and you find the bird. It’s not always that easy, for sure, but you get the idea. In the summer, birds don’t always give us that verbal cue, making it much more difficult to spot them. Birds don’t want to be seen in the summer, as they are on nests or raising young. The last thing they want is to be discovered, so they remain hidden and silent.
Finally, birdwatching hours in the summer are not conducive to late sleepers or those who turn in early. The long days mean that the sun rises early and sets late. True of all seasons, the best time to watch birds in the summer is early morning or evening. By 9 a.m., the sun is already high and harsh in the sky, and the temperature is rising. You can still find birds in the afternoon, but even the birds seek out shade when it’s too hot.
Photo by Chris Bosak – A northern parula sings from the top of a shrub in New England this spring.
Now that the spring migration is over, at least for the most part, it’s time to turn our attention to summer birdwatching.
Before we do that, I want to recap my spring birdwatching highlights. Spring highlights often begin and end with warblers, and this spring was no exception, although some non-warblers are certainly worthy of inclusion here.
It was another good spring for warblers. I’ll get into some of the less common ones later in the column, but the warblers that are often seen in New England did not disappoint. Yellow warblers were, and continue to be, seemingly around every corner. Their ubiquitous song is inescapable. (Not that I’d want to escape it in the first place.)
Photo by Chris Bosak A northern flicker hollows out a hole in a snag for a potential nest site, New England, April 2026.
While the majority of spring migrants are still working their way north, many of New England’s year-round birds are already getting down to the business of nesting.
I’m sure I’ll see plenty of nesting activity as the spring progresses, but last week I witnessed two interesting scenes related to nesting.
The first was in my backyard. As I approached one of my birdfeeders to throw in a handful of safflower seed, I noticed a northern flicker dart off into the woods. Its white rump patch gave away its identification. I was fairly certain the flicker had been clinging to a topped-off dead tree a dozen or so yards away from the feeder, and I made a note to approach the feeder more carefully next time.
Photo by Chris Bosak – A young yellow-bellied sapsucker visits a suet feeder in New England, January 2026.
At first it looked like a growth on the tall bush near my bird feeding station. I quickly realized it wasn’t a growth at all but rather a yellow-bellied sapsucker hugging a small branch.
It was a first-year bird, and its dark coloration, lack of red head or throat, and barred plumage made it look like part of the bush. It also caught me by surprise because yellow-bellied sapsuckers are migratory and are not frequent visitors to feeders. It was also perfectly still for several minutes as, from the comfort of my living room, I watched it brave the single-digit temperatures.
Photo by Chris Bosak – A red fox works its way through the New England woods.
This fox had no consideration for my sleep schedule.
I was sound asleep when the fox decided it was a good time to sit on the shared driveway that separates my house from my neighbor’s house and start barking over and over. I rolled over, tapped the screen on my phone and saw 3:01 displayed.
The fox was about 15 yards away from where I had been enjoying a good night’s sleep. I pulled back the curtain and there it was, plain as day (even though it was the middle of the night), sitting in the middle of the driveway barking away.
If you’ve ever heard a fox barking, you know it’s not like a dog barking. We’ve all been jarred awake by dogs barking before, but that sound is familiar, and usually the owner is quick to respond and stop the barking.
Birds of New England.com 