Early-morning hikes are good, but activity among birds is high, as a
rule, until 10 o’clock A.M., or later, so you need not be in haste to
get out at 4 o’clock, unless you have to go far. The trained bird
student so comes to depend upon songs that he stays out as long as the
birds are singing. Windy days are poor, because the birds are shy. In
gentle rains, birds will often be very active and tame. Toward evening,
birds often become active and vociferous again. Only a few of our birds
sing during the heat of the midsummer noon.