Ruby-throated hummingbird scarcity is temporary. If you have not seen them as often at your feeders they are likely too busy feeding small insects to their nestlings, a very high protein food.

There are two species with stilt in their name: stilt sandpiper and black-necked stilt. We see small numbers of the former every fall but the latter is a rare vagrant. Both are here now, which is highly unusual.

With the breeding season now at full tilt for most species, it seems appropriate to highlight the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and the efforts of our local surveyor, Matt Pelikan.

The northward migration that started in January and February is almost over. We will get a few more migrants, but now most birds have settled into the nesting season. So, the attention of many birders shifts to watching for behaviors documenting that the species is nesting.

Migrating shorebirds, seabirds, insect-eaters and sparrows arrive as June also arrives.

We have all heard it — the solid thump of a bird hitting a window. And photos of lots of dead birds — victims of hitting a window near skyscrapers — are awful to see. But only one per cent of all window mortality is from those tall skyscrapers, while 44 per cent of all window strike mortality is due to collisions with windows on buildings that are one to three stories tall.

Evidence of nesting is easy to see. A bird carrying either vegetation or food means that they are building a nest or feeding young. And observing a recently hatched bird confirms that a nest was successful.

Migration takes many forms. Of course there are new arrivals that interest us, and of course there are transients that are passing through, but there are also late individuals that probably should have already migrated further north.