July 1, 2007 - Summer Birdsong Welcome to the Nature Notebook. All though spring and into early summer, a dawn chorus of birds serenaded us. Members of this chorus began appearing months ago. Others joined at an increasing pace, reaching a crescendo in late spring. With the heat of summer, feathered musicians slip from center stage to lurk behind their curtain of green leaves. Only a few remain, bursting into spontaneous song as they prowl about for food or fly from perch to perch. Taking their place is another group of musicians, the insects. They offer acoustic rather than vocal music and do so from dark night clubs rather than spotlighted concert halls. Most wear somber colors so they remain rather inconspicuous until they begin scritching and scratching, fiddling and filing. Their trills and chirps fill a gap in background sound as bird courtship wanes and buggy romance peaks. This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.