Charles Seabrook

El Paso

Environmental Writer at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Articles

What you need to know about bird nesting season happening now in Georgia

1 week ago | ajc.com | Charles Seabrook

Georgia’s bird nesting season is underway. Here’s a short primer:Q: How long do birds in Georgia incubate eggs before they hatch? A: It depends on the species — and their sizes. Typically, large birds incubate eggs longer than do small birds. Bald eagles, which began nesting in December, and vultures, hawks and owls may sit on eggs for 30-50 days, Incubation time for robins, cardinals, bluebirds and other songbirds takes 10-14 days; woodpeckers, 12-18 days; ducks and geese, 21-28 days.
Georgia birders could soon see rose-breasted grosbeaks at feeders as migratory birds travel north

2 weeks ago | ajc.com | Charles Seabrook

I always get this question — or a variation of it — from at least a few folks about this time of year: “A strikingly beautiful bird is coming to my feeder. It has a big red spot on its white breast, one of the prettiest birds I’ve ever seen. I’d never seen it before now. What is it?”There’s no doubt about the answer: The bird is a male rose-breasted grosbeak. Decked out in his spiffy black and white breeding plumage, he is indeed gorgeous.
Red buckeye blooms are a boon to hummingbirds

3 weeks ago | ajc.com | Charles Seabrook

The red buckeye’s showy, red flowers are blooming in the wild now beneath forest canopies in Georgia’s Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions. The plant, typically a small shrub, also has been widely introduced throughout much of the rest of the state. At the same time the buckeyes bloom, ruby-throated hummingbirds are returning to Georgia from winter homes in Central America. The timing is no coincidence.
There is a lot to like about lichens

1 month ago | ajc.com | Charles Seabrook

Lichens are nearly everywhere — odd growths that appear as crusty patches and splotches on tree trunks, limbs, rocks, bare soil, stone walls, tombstones, wooden fences. Regardless, lichens often get little respect. Admirers, however, call them enchanting because, close-up, lichens can reveal fascinating, miniature worlds of all shapes, colors and textures. Their diversity, in fact, is amazing with more than 900 known lichen species in Georgia. One hardwood tree may harbor more than 30 species.
Millipedes help keep a forest clean and healthy

2 months ago | ajc.com | Charles Seabrook

Like many folks, I never paid much attention to millipedes — those wormlike, multilegged creatures that crawl about in the leaf litter and hide under logs and rocks on the forest floor. But now, I hold millipedes in high esteem, even finding them fascinating. My new respect stems from a “millipede walk” last week in the Oaky Woods Wildlife Management Area in Houston County.
Hearing and seeing early signs of spring

2 months ago | ajc.com | Charles Seabrook

Spring is on the way. We can see and hear it coming now even though we’re in mid-February — more than a month before the arrival of the vernal equinox. The days are rapidly growing longer — 45 minutes more daylight now since winter’s first day on Dec. 21. By Feb. 20, daylight speeds up by nearly three minutes per day. The increasing daylight tells wild creatures and plants that it’s time for new life and new growth.
Holidays are reminders for wildlife watchers

2 months ago | ajc.com | Charles Seabrook

Wild creatures, of course, don’t observe holidays. But for us, holidays are key dates, easy to remember. As such, they can help guide us through the natural year, such as reminding us when to hang feeders or when to expect migratory birds to arrive. Here are some examples. By Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14), bluebirds are checking out nesting sites; bluebird boxes should be clean and ready for occupancy. Purple martins are arriving. Spring peepers are calling.
Carolina wren’s winter song boosts spirit

Jan 21, 2025 | ajc.com | Charles Seabrook

In late morning on a bitterly cold day this week, with the outside temperature at 26 degrees, I heard the unmistakable “teakettle, teakettle” song of a Carolina wren from somewhere in my yard in Decatur. The little bird’s singing on a dreary winter day, amid the gloom and doom of the news on TV, was what I needed to help lift my spirits. The mini-concert seemed heaven sent. The jaunty Carolina wren is one of few songbird species in Georgia that sing in the dead of winter.
Mockingbirds stay defensive and territorial all year long

Jan 15, 2025 | ajc.com | Charles Seabrook

By Charles Seabrook – For the AJC1 hour agoMost of Georgia’s year-round songbirds, such as robins, bluebirds and cardinals, establish and aggressively defend territories during the spring and summer nesting season. Come autumn, however, with breeding seasons over, their reproduction hormone levels plummet and their hostilities toward each other fade. In winter, with their aggression in check, the birds become compatible, even forming flocks to find and share food to survive the cold months.
Birders find a variety of birds during Atlanta’s Christmas count

Jan 7, 2025 | ajc.com | Charles Seabrook

In the 1960s, birders who did the Christmas Bird Count each year in Atlanta discontinued the count because they said it had become too difficult to find birds amid the city’s expanses of concrete and asphalt. So, the birders moved the annual Atlanta count to Cobb County, which had a lot more birds, they said. But around 2012, veteran birder Joy Carter of Atlanta questioned the notion that birds had become scarce in the city. “It wasn’t true,” she said.