On The Road – Albatrossity – Late Summer and Fall in Flyover Country

American Goldfinches (Spinus tristis) get very pretty in the springtime, but generally do not start to court or breed until July or even August. They are waiting for the native thistles to ripen; they use the thistle down for nest construction, and eat the seeds or feed them to the nestlings. Most seed-eating birds feed their young with insects and spiders, but goldfinches are one of the few that feed them a diet of mostly seeds. Click here for larger image.

And here is one of those native thistles, the Tall Thistle (Cirsium altissimum), hosting a couple of pollinators. The one at right is a Snowberry Clearwing moth (Hemaris diffinis), the other is a native bumblebee that I have not IDed at the species level. Tall Thistle flowers are very attractive to bees, wasps, moths, butterflies and other pollinators, and a pasture or roadside adorned with these flowers can be a great place to see lots of insects. Click here for larger image.

Another late-summer flower is the Tall Gayfeather (Liatris aspera, aka Button Gayfeather, Rough Gayfeather, Button Blazing-star, Tall Blazing-star). It is a fairly common flowering plant on our native prairies, but also makes an excellent plant for gardens and borders. Click here for larger image.

Another of the several Liatris species on the prairies here is Dotted Gayfeather (Liatris punctata, aka Blazing-star, Button Snakeroot). The “dotted” part refers to the speckled leaves; the “snakeroot” refers to the fact that this drought-resistant plant can have a taproot up to 15 ft. long. Click here for larger image.

It has been a great year for our local Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (Polioptila caerulea); I seen plenty of young gnatcatchers this fall. This is a female (identified by the lack of a black eyebrow) in very fresh plumage. She was foraging (along with lots of other birds) in a patch of pokeberries, which also attract a lot of insects for her to eat! Click here for larger image.

Another pokeberry aficionado was this young male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis), molting into that flashy red plumage that we associate with this popular bird. You can see traces of his last meal smeared on his blotchy beak! Click here for larger image.

This Bell’s Vireo (Vireo bellii) has already finished with the fall molt, and is in very fresh and spiffy plumage. By the time you are reading these words, this small and unobtrusive bird will be wintering along the Pacific Coast of Mexico. That sounds like a pretty good idea to me. Click here for larger image.

Another handsome vireo species, which I usually only see in fall migration here, is the Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius). That specific epithet is a holdover from when this species was lumped with two other species (Cassin’s Vireo and Plumbeous Vireo) that have now been elevated to full species status; the lumped former species was called Solitary Vireo. If you live in the southern US, you can see these throughout the winter, and if you live in Canada or the Appalachians, you are blessed with these guys in the breeding season. Here we only get them in migration, and most often in fall, when they seem to linger longer. Click here for larger image.

Sunflowers are the state flower of Kansas, and vast expanses of sunflowers can still be found in the state in late summer. They attract lots of species, like this hatch-year male Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea). He won’t molt into that stunning blue plumage until late winter or early spring, and that will happen ion the wintering grounds in Mexico or Central America. A few of these birds winter in Florida, however, so if you are fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to live there, you can watch them turn from brown to indigo next spring. Click here for larger image.

Our final image is a Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis), showing off those fluffy rusty/rosy undertail coverts. This bird also graces my 2024 Bird Butts calendar, which is now available (along with the more sedate Birds of Flyover Country and a new addition, Hawks and Owls of Flyover Country), on the Lulu website. Click here for larger image.