I take our seed feeders down in April because birds find so much natural food they stop coming. The feeders are back up now, and the house finches and black-capped chickadees are happy. It won’t be long before the first dark-eyed juncos show up, and then, with a bit of luck, rarer species will make an appearance. It’s very unlikely, but nonetheless I hope our blue jay from two years ago will be back for as many peanuts as it can eat.

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.