I recently got one of my best photos ever of a male lazuli bunting at close range. When I uploaded the images to my PC, I was struck by how the lower part of the beak was almost like a reflector. It brought to mind the uber-reflective beaks of silver-beaked tanagers and several of its relatives in the tropical genus Ramphocelus.

Every few years, the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (nabci-us.org/) publishes a report on the “state of the birds.” The geographic scope for these reports varies. Some are just about birds in the U.S., and some are for all of North America. Others address just species on private lands or public lands or some other component of North America.

Those of us living in southern Idaho have become used to late summers and early falls bathed in the orange light of wildfire smoke. As July unfolds each year, I wonder how deep into the month we can get before the fires start. Last year we got lucky. This year we’re back to what has become normal.

One of the great pleasures in birding is sitting in a comfortable chair, outside, early in the morning, with a cup of fresh coffee, and watching the birds around you. I routinely do this while camping, but it’s even more deluxe to do it at a B&B or lodge that knows what birders want.