Birds can be found during dog days of summer

You can still find birds in August. They're not as noisy and easy to spot as in April or May and during fall's migration. They've found their mates - the goal of the glorious singing they treat us to in spring. In this season, they're training their young ones, demonstrating finding food and venturing farther from nests. They're emerging from a silent stretch during June and July, when crooning can attract predators.

Last weekend, my cousin Martha and I went "car birding." Early mornings, when traffic is light, we drive slowly, creeping really, down Swede Lake Road. We roll to immobile wheneve...