AUGUST NATURE HAPPENINGS
•As the amount of daylight decreases, migration sets into full swing.
•Visit Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania for the Fall raptor migration. Autumn Hawkwatch begins this month, go to: https://www.hawkmountain.org/
•Peak migration for Barn Swallows.
•Flocks of nighthawks can be seen late in the month.
•Early warblers (Cape May, Tennessee, Magnolia, Blackburnian) migrate through the area.
•Purple Martins will begin gathering and roosting in trees and around water, preparing for their 5000 mile migration to Brazil this month. Don’t close the Purple Martin houses as juveniles are scouting nesting cavities for 2021.
•Chimney Swifts can be seen in large flocks over chimneys at dusk.
•American Goldfinches finish nesting late this month. Prepare for an abundance of Goldfinches towards the end of the month.
•Second brood of hummingbirds begins to appear at feeders early - to mid-month.
•Adult Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are putting on fat in preparation of migration.
•Hummingbird migration begins in Canada, mid-month. Get your feeders cleaned and filled for migrating visitors during the next several months.
•Month of the spider – their numbers and webs peak, as many reach maturity.
•Peak month for summer wildflowers to bloom: Asters, Thistle, Gentian, Sneezeweed and Lobelias are blooming.
•American Pokeweed berries are maturing. Their dark purplish berries are toxic to livestock and humans, but a favorite of birds.
•Squirrels give birth to their second brood.
•Missing bark on your trees? Deer are shedding the velvet off their antlers and rubbing their antlers on low braches.
SPECIAL DATES
• August 3, Full Sturgeon Moon – The fishing tribes are given credit for the naming of this Moon, since sturgeon, a large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water, were most readily caught during this month. Other names by early settlers are attributed to this full moon like Green Corn and Grain Moon.
•August 11 -12, Perseids Meteor Shower Best time is before midnight on 12th. This meteor shower will produce up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak.
•August 13, Venus will be at its highest point in the eastern horizon. Look for the bright planet in the eastern sky right before sunrise.
•August 19, “Third Wednesday Bird Walk” at Cool Springs Preserve, presented by the Potomac Valley Audubon. For more information, go to: https://www.potomacaudubon.org/
INTERESTING HISTORICAL DATES:
•08/01/1978, Love Canal story breaks in the newspapers.
•08/05/1934, Birthdate of Wendell Berry, Environmentalist Author.
•08/09/1944, Smokey the Bear’s birthday.
•08/11/1865, Birthdate of Gifford Pinchot, Father of American Forestry.
•08/13/1942, Bambi turns 78, with his feature Disney film.
•08/17/1937, America’s favorite duck ~ Daffy Duck hits the Silver Screen, 83 years ago.
•08/25/1916, US National Park Service is 104 Years Old!
•08/28/1908, Birthdate of Roger Tory Peterson, first modern field guide to birds author.