Mid-August is upon us — late summer, a glorious time in Georgia.
In the bird world, large flocks of chimney swifts can be seen over chimneys at dusk. At night, flocks of nighthawks chase insects under the bright lights of stadiums and parking lots.
Adult purple martins have begun heading south for the winter; juveniles will leave by the end of the month. Ruby-throated hummingbird migration is in full swing and will peak in early September.
Orchard orioles and Louisiana water thrushes began heading south in July and will be mostly gone from Georgia by the end of this month.
Starting to migrate through the state are broad-winged hawks. Also, some of the earliest migrating warblers that don’t nest in our area — Cape May, Tennessee, magnolia and Blackburnian warblers — have begun passing through on their way to winter grounds in Latin America.
A good place to see migrating warblers and other songbirds is Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park in Cobb County. The Atlanta Audubon Society (atlantaaudubon.org) offers free bird walks there.
Fall migration is building among shorebirds — sandpipers, plovers, yellowlegs, dowitchers and the like. Good places to see them near Atlanta are the ponds at the E.L. Huie Land Treatment Facility in Clayton County.
The young of American goldfinches, which don’t start nesting until mid-summer, fledge later this month.
Coming in to winter in Georgia’s wetlands are blue winged teal — the first of more than 18 duck species that will spend the season with us.
In the reptile world, the young of many of Georgia’s 44 snake species — including corn snake, Eastern racer, indigo snake (endangered), rat snake, hognose snake, plain-bellied water snake, copperhead and coral snake — are hatching out or being born alive, depending on the species.
Hatching out, too, are baby pond slider turtles, eastern mud turtles and, in the sand hills, gopher tortoises. In South Georgia’s swamps, newly hatched baby alligators can be heard “clucking” to their mothers.
In the sky: The moon will be last-quarter Sunday, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Venus rises out of the east about an hour before sunrise. Mars is in the west at sunset. Jupiter is low in the east just before sunrise. Venus and Jupiter will appear close together low in the east just before dawn Monday. Saturn is low in the west at dusk and sets around 9 p.m.
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