During the summer doldrums, bird activity drops off dramatically around central Virginia. By late July, most chicks have fledged, and parents have earned some well-deserved rest and relaxation. The summer heat and humidity seem to bring bird life to a standstill except for morning and evening foraging. So it’s a welcome thing to find purple martins gathering in downtown Richmond in late July preparing for their southern migration. They gather by the thousands in a small row of Bradford pear trees near the 17th Street Farmers’ Market, and this twilight parade is a spectacle you won’t want to miss.

Winter can be an unusually quiet and slow time for bird life in our backyards and neighborhoods. But we can add some zest to our favorite pastime by participating in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count sponsored each February by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. This will be the 12th annual citizen-science event in which your personal observations help the Cornell team track bird-life trends across North America, and your tally will help their information database grow larger and more accurate.