Ohio Outdoors: Summer’s symphony

July is a busy month. We celebrate our country’s birthday, county fairs are getting underway, bald eagle chicks are fledging (able to fly and leave the nest), and then there are the summer concerts. Many cities and towns across the Buckeye State offer free outdoor concerts on special afternoons or evenings throughout the summer. There is another type of concert that is also free, available to everyone, everywhere, and plays all summer long. I’m talking about the musical productions of nature. 

Of course, birdsong can be heard all throughout the year. But mid-summer days include many additional bird voices, including orioles, mourning doves, swallows and cat birds, to name a few. Another bird sound Ohioans can enjoy in the summer months is the hum of rapid wingbeats produced by hummingbirds. Of course, summer nights are filled with birdsong, too. Nighthawks, whip-poor-wills, woodcocks, northern mockingbirds and owl voices can frequently be heard calling out through the darkness.