With our new feeders in place and a front row seat from my home studio the bird count is up to 51 and new arrivals every day along with the predators.
During May, migrating songbirds are particularly attracted to oaks. Most local oaks bloom in May, marked by dangling clusters of male flowers. Oaks are naturally home to all sorts of insects, and those flowers attract even more bugs. Warblers, vireos, flycatchers, and other spring-returning insect-eaters all visit oak flowers to eat bugs.
From my backyard, I can see the crowns of three large oaks in the neighborhood. One is a black oak, another is a red oak, and the third is a white oak. These trees are islands of bird life—I have seen and heard all sorts of songbirds in those oaks during May.
These are crazy times. North America’s songbird population has dropped by close to three billion over the past five decades. I savor any chance to share space with these fellow organisms in the environment.
