skulking under cover of shrubs and brambles, but the males will perch on exposed branches during courtship season in spring to attract potential mates.
Chimney Swifts can be seen wheeling like a bat in the sky. Their cigar-shaped bodies are agile and quick. They snatch insects out of the air and can be heard with a series of jumbling chitters and clicks. Almost their entire life is lived in the air; they cannot perch, but can cling to the edges of cliffs, trees, and chimneys. In migration, enormous flocks of them create a whirling spectacle.
Five Ways to Help Birds— and the Earth
1 Remove threats to birds. Two major sources of bird deaths are window collisions and outdoor cats. Adding protective shapes or specialized films to your window can help prevent birds from colliding into them. Keeping cats indoors prevents them from hunting, injuring, and killing adult and baby birds.
2 Improve habitat. Have a lawn, patio, or balcony? Plant native plants as an in-ground or container garden to feed seed-eating birds, and to support the insect populations that feed many other songbirds. Avoid pesticide use; poisoned insects poison birds.
3 Vote with your dollar. Opt for organic and bird-friendly choices whenever you can, and avoid buying products that poison the planet.
4 Get political. Care about birds? Make sure to tell your representatives, senators, and local government officials about the issues that matter to you! chimney swift by matthew dolkarts; Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library
5 Participate in citizen science. Get curious about birds! The Cornell Lab of Ornithology runs two apps that are a hotspot for citizen science: eBird and Merlin. Use the apps and log the birds you observe to help contribute to our collective understanding of bird population dynamics.
The Chimney Swift is on“ orange alert” because of its declining population.
These are only four species of the over 450 birds that can be found across Maryland. And while we are focusing on birds here, birds’ health is intricately linked to habitat, plant, and insect health. If the birds are declining, it’ s an indication that the rest of our ecosystem is too. As Cornell Lab director John Fitzpatrick and“ Decline of North American Avifauna” coauthor Peter Marra write, this crisis in birds is“ a staggering loss that suggests the very fabric of North America’ s ecosystem is unraveling.” It’ s important to understand that when we encounter a bird in Maryland, protecting Maryland habitats— while important— is not enough. Maryland’ s forests, fields, and wetlands are not isolated; migratory birds’ annual journeys take them across county, state, and national borders. The National Audubon Society has a publicly available tool called the Bird Migration Explorer that can display an individual bird’ s migration journey. I encourage you to check it out and observe how a single individual’ s life may take it across continents and over open ocean.
The same birds that nest in your neighborhood this summer may be in Mexico, Costa Rica, or the Amazon basin by wintertime. We are all connected.
Genevieve Wall is the Senior Naturalist at Nature Forward, where she leads guided nature walks and coordinates with knowledgeable naturalists across the greater D. C. area to help connect and educate adult learners about the natural world. Prior to working with Nature Forward, Genevieve worked in environmental education along the James River in Virginia.
36 plenty I summer growing 2025