Ovenbird.
Despite a late night last night, when first sunlight reached my eyes, some mysterious force pulled me up and out of bed, and somehow I dressed, remembered to bring my dog and camera, and next thing I knew I was standing at the wooded Beech Hill trailhead. And I ended up standing there for a long while—many minutes—looking up into the first tall maple tree. There was a redstart up there, for one thing. And a chickadee. Also what looked like a northern parula. Flit-flit-flit. They stayed pretty high, though, so I didn’t get a great photo. But I didn’t care, because as I stood there gazing toward the sky, around me came the voices of perhaps a dozen birds.
Chestnut-sided warbler.
Eight of the voices belonged to wood-warbers—sweet notes in peculiar patterns, buzzes and slides, the strident calls of an ovenbirds. Slight notes of alarm came from the nesting pair of phoebes. A goldfinch flew over, chattering. And above and beyond them all came the early morning song of a hermit thrush. And then I heard a robin. And a crow.
It’s not easy to describe the feeling of being so wholly immersed angular sunlight, fresh green leaves, cool air, and the music of so many birds. It’s better than any movie, because you’re right there in it. Right in the thick of things.
We stopped again around the trail’s first curve to listen to a battle of ovenbirds. Two males, hollering back and forth, not fifty feet from each other. I’d never seen (or heard) that before. Beyond them I heard Nashville, chestnut-sided, and black-and-white warblers
A new flood of chestnut-sideds must’ve just arrived—heard tons of them while ascending the upper trail. We stopped so I can take pictures of one bird flitting in a low flowering tree not a dozen feet from us. He wasn’t very cooperative. Singing around us were a few field-edge species: catbird, song sparrow, yellowthroats, and towhees. Many towhees.
Sharp-shinned hawk.
At the summit were savannah sparrows, as I knew there’d be, and a wide, blue, nearly cloudless sky. And in that sky, I saw a flutter. And the flutter came nearer until I could see it was a sharp-shinned hawk. Down the open slope I heard the loud song of a rose-breasted grosbeak.
We wandered down to visit the grosbeak, stopping to watch a Nashville warbler poke about in some new leaves. A titmouse sang from across the road. Returning, we surprised a pair of field sparrows flitting at the edge of the trail.
Then we dove down the soggy lower trail, pausing to admire a black-and-white warbler for a while. Then we saw another black-and-white with an odd, sharp, chattery call I hadn’t heard before. The woods weren’t as buggy as I’d imagined they’d bee—a few black flies, is all. We flushed a couple of white-throated sparrows. Off in the trees I heard a jay.
Back where we started, I spotted a downy woodpecker and thought, what a nice last bird to see. Then, piling back into the pickup, I heard the croak of a raven.
Nashville warbler.
Driving home in mud-caked boots and mud-splattered jeans, I felt cleansed, freshened, and as full as if I’d already eaten breakfast. And back home, climbing the back stairs, I heard a first-of-year yellow warbler singing from across the road. All before 8:30 a.m.
And then I took a shower and made breakfast.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:15 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Hermit thrush* (v)
2. Ovenbird*
3. Black-and-white warbler
4. Black-throated green warbler (v)
5. American goldfinch* (v)
6. Northern parula
7. American redstart
8. Black-capped chickadee
9. Eastern phoebe
10. Chestnut-sided warbler
11. Common yellowthroat
12. Nashville warbler
13. American robin*
14. American crow* (v)
15. Eastern towhee
16. Mourning dove (v)
17. Ruffed grouse (booming)
18. Gray catbird
19. Song sparrow*
20. Savannah sparrow
21. Sharp-shinned hawk
22. Rose-breasted grosbeak
23. Tufted titmouse
24. Field sparrow
25. White-throated sparrow
26. Blue jay
27. Downy woodpecker
28. Common raven
Elsewhere
29. House finch (v)
30. Herring gull
31. Yellow warbler‡ (v)
32. European starling
33. Northern cardinal (v)
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
‡First-of-year bird
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, chestnut-sided warbler, common raven, common yellowthroat, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, European starling, field sparrow, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, northern parula, ovenbird, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruffed grouse, savannah sparrow, sharp-shinned hawk, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler
