Stewart Family Eye Care

04/07/2026

The roster shifted again. Here's what's new, what's nesting, and what's happening near you right now.

🐦 New arrivals this week:

- Barn swallows scouting porch beams and outbuildings — if you see one circling your eave repeatedly, she's evaluating the site
- Chipping sparrows have settled in. Russet cap, feeding on the ground near driveways and sidewalks. Quiet, easy to miss
- The first orioles are being reported in southern zones — still a week or two away for most of the mid-Atlantic and northeast. Orange halves and grape jelly on a platform bring them in

Now nesting:

- Robin — many on eggs, some in southern areas already feeding chicks
- Cardinal — female deep in dense hedge, male delivering food
- Mourning dove — one of the quickest nest-to-fledge timelines among common backyard birds. Some on second clutch already
- Killdeer — eggs on gravel. If you see one dragging a wing near a parking lot, the nest is close
- Chickadee — egg-laying underway in cavities and nest boxes
- Cooper's hawk — stick nest in tall tree, often within sight of a feeder

🌿 Still happening:

- Hawk kettles — broad-winged hawks still moving north on warm afternoons. Look up
- Chipmunk litters growing underground. Entry holes active at dawn and dusk
- Toad and frog chorus intensifying on warm evenings after rain

🌱 What helps this week:

- Crushed eggshells scattered near feeders — calcium for egg-laying females
- A dish of wet soil near the porch for barn swallows scouting nest sites
- Keep dogs leashed near known killdeer nest areas
- Delay yard cleanup — ground-nesting species are active now

The yard gets busier every week in April. Most of it happens within earshot of your kitchen. 🐦

04/06/2026

The monarch butterfly that left Mexico in March made it to Texas. She found milkweed. She laid her eggs. Her part of the relay is done.

She'd been alive since last August — the longest-lived generation, the one that carried the species through winter. Her children are caterpillars right now, feeding on the milkweed she chose for them.

🦋 In about two weeks they'll emerge as adults and fly north. They'll reach the southern Midwest — Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, southern Illinois. They'll find milkweed, lay eggs, and hand the relay to generation three.

Then generation three pushes further. Into the northern states. Into your yard. By June.

The relay depends on milkweed being available at every stop. If generation two can't find it in the central states, generation three doesn't reach yours. And generation four — the one that flies all the way back to Mexico in the fall — starts from wherever the chain held.

🌱 What's happening right now:

- Generation one has finished its leg. Eggs laid in Texas and the Deep South
- Generation two caterpillars are feeding. Adults emerge mid-to-late April
- Milkweed is sprouting across the central US right now. It's the bridge between what's already happened and what comes next

If you're in the central states and you planted milkweed — it's about to matter. Generation two is counting on it.

The butterfly that left Mexico won't see your garden. But her great-grandchild will. 🌿

04/02/2026

The hummingbird is days from your yard.

Right now she's somewhere over the Southeast, pushing north, hitting red flowers and sugar feeders along the route. She weighs less than a nickel — light enough to mail with a single stamp.

A week and a half ago she left the Yucatan. She'd spent the winter in a Mexican forest, eating insects and nectar, packing on fat until the reserve bulged visibly beneath her gorget feathers.

Then she flew across the Gulf of Mexico in one nonstop push. Hundreds of miles of open water. No land. No rest. Hours of continuous wingbeats until she made landfall on the Gulf Coast so light she'd burned through most of the body she started with.

She's been refueling since. Flower after flower, feeder after feeder, working her way north toward your porch.

🌿 If you want her to stay:

- Clean and fill your feeder now — four parts water, one part sugar, no dye
- Leave early columbine, bee balm, or salvia uncut
- Hang the feeder where you can see it from inside — she'll scout it within days

She crossed the Gulf on wings that weigh less than a paperclip.

The feeder is the finish line 🌺

04/02/2026

Every bird at your feeder right now is running on almost no sleep. And has been for weeks.

March through May isn't just spring for songbirds. It's an endurance event. The combination of territory defense, nest building, egg production, incubation, and chick feeding requires nearly every waking hour. That leaves a few hours for rest — and even that rest is compromised because half the brain stays alert for predators.

The male is singing before dawn. Patrolling territory boundaries. Chasing intruders. Feeding the incubating female who barely leaves the nest. Then foraging intensely in the evening to build enough fat reserves to survive the overnight deficit. Every songbird loses a measurable percentage of its body weight overnight. It has to eat that back every day while also doing everything else.

The female's version is harder. She's producing one egg per day — each one a significant fraction of her body weight. She incubates for long stretches with brief breaks. After hatching, both parents feed chicks from dawn to dusk. The combined feeding rate for a brood of hungry nestlings is hundreds of trips per day.

By late May, both parents are noticeably thinner. Feather condition has deteriorated — you'll see ragged, dull adults at the feeder that looked sleek in March. The physical cost of a single brood is visible if you know what to look for. And many species immediately start a second clutch within days of the first brood fledging.

The bird singing at your feeder at six AM looks fine. It hasn't had a full night's rest in weeks. And it won't until the last brood fledges.

🐦 How to support them through the hardest weeks:

Keep feeders stocked and clean through May — breeding birds are burning more calories per day than at any other time of year. A reliable feeder supplements the insect diet and reduces the number of foraging trips needed

Mealworms in a dish near the feeder make a significant difference during chick-rearing. Both parents are hunting insects constantly — a dish of mealworms near the nest area saves trips and energy

Water matters more during breeding than any other season. An incubating female that barely leaves the nest needs water close by. A clean birdbath within range of the nesting area helps

If a bird at your feeder looks thin, ragged, or dull compared to how it looked in March — that's normal. It's not sick. It's spent. The breeding season takes everything a songbird has

The dawn singing that starts earlier each week is not casual. It's a territorial broadcast that has to happen every single morning or the territory is lost. The bird singing at five AM has been awake since before you and will still be feeding chicks at dusk

Every bird at your feeder is in the middle of the hardest work of its year. Keep the food coming 🌿

04/01/2026

Blog Update: ABC's of Primary Angle Glaucoma

There are several different variations of glaucoma, but in this article we will mainly focus on Primary Open Angle Glaucoma. This means that there is no specific underlying cause for the glaucoma, like inflammation, trauma or a severe cataract....

04/01/2026

SHE ISN'T STUPID. SHE IS BLIND.

You are driving down a dark highway with your high beams blazing. A doe stands dead center on the asphalt, staring blankly as you hurtle toward her.

We usually curse the "stupid" animal, assuming she is frozen in a panic.

The reality is entirely physiological. She isn't paralyzed by fear; she is blinded. Deer eyes are optimized for low-light survival. They possess a tapetum lucidum—a reflective layer that drastically amplifies available light. When your high beams hit her, that layer overloads her retinas. It is the exact equivalent of a human staring directly into a flashbang. She is standing in total darkness, surrounded by roaring noise, unable to see where the road ends and the forest begins.

Right now in March, this danger peaks. The first green shoots of spring are growing directly on the warm road shoulders, drawing starving deer right to the pavement.

Ecologically, the US sees over 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions annually, resulting in massive wildlife loss and billions in damages.

If you spot a deer, immediately drop your lights to low beam and brake. Studies show dipping your lights gives her retinas the 8 seconds they need to recover.

She isn't frozen by stupidity. She just needs to see the way home.

04/01/2026

Your yard is about to rotate its entire cast in three weeks. The warbler wave starts this week, and it moves fast.

Most of these birds pass through in one to three days. If you're not watching, you don't know they came.

🐦 Arriving now — the early scouts:

- Yellow-rumped warbler — already here. One of the few warblers that eats berries, which is how she survived winter when insects disappeared. Look for a bright yellow rump patch flashing between branches

- Pine warbler — arriving this week. Buzzy trill from the tops of pines. She wintered in the Southeast and barely migrated at all compared to what's coming behind her

Arriving early April:

- Black-and-white warbler — creeps along trunks like a nuthatch. Zebra-striped. Hard to mistake for anything else

- Louisiana waterthrush — walks along creek banks bobbing her tail. If you have moving water nearby, she may already be there

🌿 Arriving mid-April:

- Yellow warbler — bright yellow, head to tail. Your garden shrubs

- Palm warbler — bobs her tail on the lawn. Often mistaken for a sparrow

- Prairie warbler — buzzy ascending song from scrubby edges

Late April — the flood:

A dozen or more species in two weeks. Your yard changes daily. Trees and shrubs fill with warblers you may have not spotted before — most of them passing through, not staying.

The wave peaks fast and fades by mid-May. Three weeks of the most concentrated birding of the year.

Right now it's just the scouts. The rest are behind them. 🌱

03/31/2026