Summer often feels slow in terms of seeing birds–spring’s fast-paced migration is over and many birds are much less visible while they’re nesting.
I saw more Ruby-throated Hummingbirds than I’d seen in previous years passing through in May and one day I noticed a female collecting spider webs. In early June, I was fortunate enough to see her again and watch her fly over to a tiny nest, which I would have never spotted on my own. She raised one chick and it fledged at the end of the month.
Common Terns visit Liberty State Park through the summer. They often perch prominently on the waterfront walkway railings, making it quite easy to see if they are sporting leg bands. I was happy to see a banded tern I’d previously photographed in 2018 again several times in June. C44 was first banded with a metal federal band in 2013 as an adult on Governor’s Island in New York City (which is just a short flight from Liberty State Park). It was recaptured in 2015 (also on Governor’s Island) and got its easy-to-read black band then.
