As the days continue to lengthen, the summer solstice is almost upon us. While June is a time of frenetic activity for local nesting birds, my mind always wanders to what is happening much further north, in the Arctic. Everything in this land of extremes is so different from temperate and tropical regions that, for humans visiting the region, it is otherworldly.
There is no sunrise and sunset in the Arctic at this season. The sun is just there, low in the sky, moving around you 18 degrees above the horizon. The expression, “land of the midnight sun” is used because it is daylight 24/7 in June and July at the higher latitudes. Summer in the far north is an Arctic dream.
Conversely, today if we were unfortunately visiting the Antarctic, it is the beginning of winter in the southern hemisphere. If we were at the imaginary line called the Antarctic Circle, located at 66 degrees 33 minutes South Latitude, one would be standing on ice over a mile thick in frighteningly cold conditions in total darkness, absent the Austral Borealis or astronomical light. Sunrise would not come for several months.
The above digression is an attempt to put a bit of perspective on the calendar, to give an overview of the bigger picture. Birds are the ultimate migratory species on this planet. The shorebirds are the most long distance migrants of the birds. They fly from continent to continent, north to south and back, annually, their biorhythms changing dramatically at various latitudes.
They, as have all migratory birds, have adapted a pattern of movement that enables them to use vast areas of the planet that are only suitable to their species for a scant couple of months or longer. The longer distance a particular species migrates, the more highly developed its synchronicity. The birds’ gather in migratory flocks and travel, feed, rest, in fact do everything together. This ensures that when they make their final flight north to the vast tundra regions they will be able to find their own kind and quickly begin courting, laying eggs and hatching young. Their biological clocks run on an incredibly precise schedule.
Back at this latitude we find birds all over the Cape and Islands are busy making more birds. Familiar Carolina wrens, black-capped chickadees, eastern bluebirds, American robins and Song Sparrows have already fledged one batch of young and are close to bringing off a second brood. Most other birds found here are now busy feeding young.
Baby birds eat voraciously and are insatiable. Periods of cold and damp weather that occasionally happen can be very damaging at this time. Adults are scouring their territories for food in the form of protein-rich insects to feed the young. Cold and wet restricts insect activity and food becomes scarce at a critical time. The longer the weather stays cold and wet the more potential for disaster for adults attempting to feed rapidly growing young.
