In August, many native shrubs bear sweet delicious fruit - like the Golden Currants in the photo. Chokecherries (so named to remind you not to choke on the big seed), Wax Currants, Holly Grapes and Wild Plums ripen. Many animals take advantage of the bounty. My laden Chokecherry bushes are the site of vicious American Robin wars as the birds fight each other for the fruit; Fox Squirrels, House Finches and even our resident Black-capped Chickadee family also collect their share.

Hiking on the trails, you may find bear, fox or coyote scat loaded with seeds. Birds and mammals carry the seeds in the guts for long distances, depositing them far from the mother plant in a dollop of fertilizer, thus spreading the plants across the landscape. The animals get a sweet treat for their troubles - the fruit ensures that the seeds will be consumed.

Years back, when I was starting my native plant garden, I collected some Wild Plum and Chokecherry seeds from the bushes and planted them. Later I found a huge bear scat in the street filled with the same seeds; I scraped it up (EEEWWWWWW!), hosed it off, and planted the seeds. Guess which ones germinated better? Something about a trip through the bear’s stomach helped the seeds sprout.

August’s monsoon rains trigger the start of the fall blooming wildflowers, like the sticky blooms of Curlycup Gumweed (pictured), Dotted Gayfeather,  purple flowers of Smooth Asters, white Heath Asters, and yellow tufts of Snakeweed and Dwarf Rabbitbrush and many of the goldenrods. These flowers will really hit their stride in September, and create a second wildflower season that rivals the spring. 
Look for August wildflowers on just about any trail in the plains or mountain backdrop. Marshall Mesa and the High Plains trails south of Boulder are particularly good! 


Visit the Wildflower Photo Gallery to see identified photos of Boulder’s native shrubs, grasses and wildflowers.

This August promises a spectacular meteor show, without much interference from the moon this year. The Perseid meteor shower should peak on the nights of August 11-13 around midnight or in the early morning hours. However, the nights immediately before and after should also offer up a great show. At its peak, you may be able to see on average about 1 meteor every minute. The meteors, also called falling stars or shooting stars, will seem to originate in the northeastern sky near the constellation Perseus - hence the name. They will appear as bright glowing streaks of white, orange or even green!
Meteors are actually small particles of rock, dust or metal. They are usually about the size of a grain of sand. Every August, the Earth passes through a patch of such outer space grit shed by the periodic comet Swift-Tuttle as it loops around the sun every 133 years, providing us with a predictable sky show. Meteors hit our atmosphere 50 to 80 miles up at speeds of up to 130,000 miles per hour (at that speed you could travel from Boulder to Denver in a second). Friction with the air causes them to burn up, leaving a glowing trail behind. Very few meteors actually fall to earth. When they do, they are called meteorites.

During late summer, Rufous Hummingbirds arrive on their annual migration south from breeding grounds in the Northwest. Smaller - and more aggressive - than our local Broad-tailed Hummers, these feisty little things will take over your feeder or flower bed and drive the Broad-tails away. They are a rusty reddish-brown, and males have a distinct coppery-colored throat gorget when the sunlight strikes them just right.

Like the Broad-tails, male Rufous Hummingbirds make a high-pitched trill as they fly, using specially modified vibrating tail feathers. I think they sound more metallic. The sound alerts other hummingbirds to their presence and also impresses females as the males perform their sexy death-defying mating dive.

Despite their tiny size, they have the longest migration route of any of our hummingbirds, some traveling from southern Alaska all the way into north and central Mexico. Since they travel such long distances through many habitats, Rufous Hummingbirds are especially sensitive to the effects of climate change. Parts of their range in Oregon and Washington may become unsuitable, driving breeding birds farther north into Canada.