By Alex Harper If there is a light at the end of the tunnel of the dog days of summer birding in the Mojave Desert, it begins sometime in September. The warmest and most uncomfortable days are mostly behind us, and the birds register this too. If you struggled to get outside in August, you’ll find the birding opportunities more motivating. The movements that began in August are only more amplified in September. Shorebirds have been engaging in southbound movement for weeks now, congregating around reservoirs, wetlands, the Las Vegas Wash, and ephemerally flooded dry lakes. Avocets, curlews and Wilson’s Phalaropes pour in from the kettle ponds of the Great Plains or lakes of the Great Basin. Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpipers transit on their way from the spruce bogs of Canada and Alaska, and dowitchers and Red-necked Phalaropes may be coming from open tundra of the northern edges of the North American continent. Adults are the first to arrive in late summer; first of year birds tend to arrive later, needing time to learn how to feed and fatten up on their own after being born earlier in the year. Riparian areas and parks begin to invite and harbor more songbirds. These birds may be coming from breeding territories throughout the Western Lower 48. In the weeks that follow, we will see birds that are arriving from farther distances. This makes sense; songbirds that are departing from Alaska and Canada tend not to arrive before birds that started their autumn migration somewhere in northern Nevada, Idaho, or eastern Oregon, for example. It stands to reason that the Orange-crowned Warblers, some of the Yellow Warblers, Brewer’s Sparrows and Western Tanagers, and Black-headed Grosbeaks that we see in early September may not have come from too far away to get here. The first Wilson’s Warblers that we see are probably from neighboring states as opposed to ones coming from British Columbia or the Yukon. Additionally, it is the insect-eating birds that we observe the most in September. Flycatchers, vireos, warblers and tanagers need to vacate out of the areas where insect activity can be quickly shut down by the first cold fronts. These birds make haste to destinations that support insect and invertebrate activity year-round, such as the Sonoran Desert, lowland Mexico, and tropical regions of Central America. Birds that can rely on seeds have more flexibility since their food-sources aren’t affected by temperature in the same ways. Sparrows may begin to appear more in October while finches may not begin to peak until November.  Interesting birds are often observed by the vigilant, and the vigilant are up early and at the “honey holes” at the right times. These sites include Cactus Springs, Corn Creek Field Station, Floyd Lamb at Tule Springs, Clark County Wetlands and Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, but virtually any park can attract higher volumes of birds. Infrequently seen or rare birds are often at sites amongst the regularly occurring birds for the same reasons that the habitat is attractive-looking and may have “retentive qualities” such as water, reliable food sources, and safety from predators. Outside of the suburban and urban Las Vegas Valley, spring-fed canyons can be especially interesting to visit. .

By Alex Harper The birder that gets out in August will be rewarded with observations of migration and post breeding activities of local birds. By late summer, most birds in the northern hemisphere have wrapped up breeding. The young born this year are often now on their own, no longer dependent on their parents. During most of August, many birds are engaging in what is known as post-breeding dispersal . Post-breeding dispersal is exactly what it sounds like. After breeding and nest-rearing, adult and young birds alike spend time moving away from the nest territory. They will search for food in suitable habitat, and maybe make slow movements southward throughout the day. In short, they are searching for food and fattening up for their upcoming migration in the fall months. Look for local birds wandering into your neighborhoods in the late summer; newcomers may not be migratory but birds wandering locally. You can think of this as birds reshuffling their territories, with the young birds trying to fit in. This is distinct from migration, which often comes after post-breeding dispersal in the fall for those species that migrate. Migration is better thought of as a seasonal movement between an animal’s suitable breeding range and its suitable wintering territory. Both places serve as critical places for an animal’s survival, so much so that it is beneficial to the species to move in between the two every year of its life. In August, plovers, stilts and avocets, and sandpipers continue to move in and out of the region. Some of these characteristics include bills that are adapted for feeding on the many organisms that live along environments with shorelines. Shorebirds tend to be capable long-distance flyers, and the shorebirds species that we encounter in Nevada breed in tundra or boreal forest in Canada and Alaska. They may spend their winters in Mexico or Central and South America. Southern Nevada is a stopping point for some of them, and they congregate near the few suitable water sources. When these shorebirds stop here, they are usually stopping over to refuel. Look for yellowlegs, dowitchers, phalaropes, and various sandpipers at Clark County Wetlands, Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, and the upper Las Vegas wash. While in shorebird habitat, keep an eye out for unusual herons and egrets, as well as Black Terns. High-elevation mountains like the Springs and Sheep Ranges promise of water and cooler temperatures and invite migratory birds as well. By early August, hummingbird migration is in full swing. The canyons and hillsides of the higher elevations are ripe with blooming penstemons and thistles, and they continue to entice the odd Calliope or Rufous Hummingbirds, and they will duel with Anna’s, Black-chinned, and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds for rights to flowers.  Some songbirds will begin to sneak through as well. In late August, it can be fruitful to hang out by springs in the Spring Mountains. Deer Creek Picnic Area is a great place. Find any water running by a picnic table and sit by the water. Listen and watch, and eventually you may notice songbirds. They may come in waves of small groups that might be made up of birds of many ages, sexes, and species. These are known as mixed flocks. You may see migratory vireos, warblers, grosbeaks, and tanagers that are coming from other mountain ranges from farther north joining birds that spent the summer in the Spring Mountains, for example. It’s impossible to tell the newcomers from the locals apart, but the fluctuations in numbers during migration help to give part of the plot away. .