As we round the corner of mid-summer, with Labor Day now dimly visible at the horizon, it’s time you got serious about shorebirds.

You may not see hundreds of shearwaters and other seabirds, but it’s always worth getting out in a boat.

Predicting this South Pacific seabird’s appearance in the state was utterly absurd – there had never been a Juan Fernandez Petrel in the entire North Atlantic, and there are maybe 3 records in the South Atlantic, none closer than Brazil.

With the tourist hordes come the birds of summer, and they are worth leaving your home for, and maybe even crossing a town line or two.

Many terns and gulls usually seen on Cape Cod beaches are still nesting in the Arctic. Meantime, those who are on the Cape are nesting in rooftop malls and buildings.

Last week I covered the Brood XIV 17-year cicadas and the birds that love them, but it turned out the birds weren’t quite done adding to this story.

The much-heralded Brood XIV 17-year cicadas have finally arrived. Have they been serenading you? If you’re in the emergence zone, this is really old news at this point, as they emerged weeks ago and most have probably laid eggs and kicked the bucket at this point. But how does this apparent bonanza affect birds?

For several years, I’ve had a mostly unoccupied screech-owl box on an oak tree in the narrow strip of woods in my backyard. I hung it about 14 feet up, positioned so we can see the hole from the house, and have monitored it expectantly ever since.