The sugar water feeders are busy, too, as juvenile hummingbirds join the ranks of the females that are “allowed” to feed by “Guard Bird,” the dominant male of the territory. Alternating with the hummers are the orioles, who are also joined by youngsters of the year that resemble their mother in plumage. The occasional red-bellied woodpecker or tanager demands time at the sugar water as well.

The flower beds are abuzz with hummingbirds, too. Each red bloom is visited time and again for its treasure of nectar.

The niger seed feeders are less active, as goldfinches are away at nests. The thistle is blooming and seeding, the time for goldfinches to build nests and raise young on the milk of the thistle seeds.

Baby downies, the males with red caps and females without, are finding the suet feeders a reliable source of food as they make their way in the world of the backyard habitat. Baby chickadees, all fluffy and plump, follow their parents from twig to twig, spider to spider, and seed to seed.

As August arrives, the busy scenes in the backyard change ever so subtly, as the migrants appear, all dressed in lesser, drabber garbs, in preparation for life in the tropics. The resident blue jays are noisier, the cardinals quieter, the rose-breasted grosbeaks shyer, the days shorter.