|
|
 |
|
6 September 2010
|
Rockport, Maine, USA
|
|
Posts Tagged ‘common raven’
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
 Yellow-rumped warbler.  Common yellowthroat. I heard the quay! of a red-eyed vireo when Jack and I stepped out of the pickup in the Rockville Street parking lot. The wooded Beech Hill slope moved and whispered before us as a brisk, cool breeze stirred the clean, dry air. We began to walk and soon heard the cheeps and burbles of a small band of black-capped chickadees.
At this time of year, few birds are very vocal. The rare spring song will emerge as by accident, like a hiccup, but most nesting species are secretive and silent, rarely offering up more than a subtle incognito chip note. Chickadees, though, always hang out in little groups, and they seem ceaseless in their communication: I’m over here. What’ve you got there. I heard something down below. Here’s some grubs and berries. You kids don’t stray too far.
 Yellow-rumped warbler. And however it ends up happening, at this time of year, the chickadees are rarely alone. I’ll hear them up ahead along the trail and slow my pace. Once within view, I’ll begin to scan the trees for small swift movements. Sometimes these will be white-cheeked birds with black caps, but just as often they’ll be wood warblers or thrushes or other miniature passerines. It feels like a magic trick, in fact. At a season when it’s hard to list many birds because of their shyness, all you have to do is listen for chickadees.
Today was no exception. The first black-caps I heard were accompanied by a good-sized group of yellow-rumped warblers that zipped and flew quickly through the undergrowth, chasing each other and pecking at twigs and finding morsels there. I stood for about five minutes or so watching them—must’ve been at least a half dozen of ‘em. And a couple white-throated sparrows popped up into view, as well. And a solitary veery was a surprise. In the distance I heard the call of a raven.
 Turkey vulture. I didn’t hear the second gang of chickadees until we’d returned over the summit and begun our descent into the lower wooded trail. More white-throats accompanied this group, too, as did a solitary black-throated green warbler, hopping and flitting silently amid the greenery, not uttering so much as a tiny chip.
At this point, I found myself in The Zone, living in the moment, tiptoeing down the trail. As the voices of the second group of chickadees receded behind us, I already heard the sounds of the third group up ahead. These birds moved with brown creepers, wood-pewees, titmice, and a black-throated green warbler. The titmice were rather vocal, but the brown creepers emitted only their sibilant chip note. The pewees were utterly silent.
Since I was about nine or ten years old, among my favorite things to do in life has been to lose myself in the magic of a wood. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun.
 Black-capped chickadee. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 8:15 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. Common yellowthroat
4. Gray catbird
5. Mourning dove
6. Yellow-rumped warbler
7. White-throated sparrow
8. Veery
9. Common raven
10. Eastern towhee
11. Cedar waxwing (voice)
12. Savannah sparrow
13. Herring gull
14. Turkey vulture
15. Blue jay (voice)
16. American goldfinch (voice)
17. Black-throated blue warbler
18. Eastern wood-pewee
19. Brown creeper (voice)
20. Tufted titmouse
21. Black-throated green warbler
Elsewhere
22. American crow
 Black-throated blue warbler.
Tags: American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, brown creeper, Cedar waxwing, common raven, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, herring gull, mourning dove, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, turkey vulture, veery, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
 Veery. Ack! Slept late. Up and dressed in a hurry, to Beech Hill by 7:45 a.m. Hazy sun, warm and muggy still, with just a taste of strangeness in the breeze—strangeness, perhaps, because Hurricane Earl is on the way? Who knows. But chickadees were chatting and chittering in the distance, so I had hopes of seeing a few silent bird species chowing down before the storm. Because they must know change is coming. If only fall migration.
 Chestnut-sided warbler (juvenile). After our first few hundred paces, Jack’s and mine, we’d counted some typical species, then stopped in a sunny part of the trail when I heard an unfamiliar chip! call from the undergrowth. I never did see the source of the chip!, but I did spot a young chestnut-sided warbler that zipped up into a tree in front of us. They sure are fast flyers—or sure can be.
Soon after, I heard another chip! This one sounded sort of like a white-throat, but a little different. We stopped again, and again another bird flitted silently up near us—a red-eyed vireo this time, and a great photo-op, but I passed it up, silly me. Instead, I got a ghostly shot of what was sure enough a white-throated sparrow peeping at us from beyond a thicket of old summer leaves.
 Northern harrier. Entering the open fields, I scanned the distance, as I always do. A golden haze hung in the east over the bay. And there not far off, a marsh hawk—a northern harrier—dipped and veered over a grassy slope, its white rump flashing.
Before long, reaching the summit, I was watching another hawk—a sparrow hawk, a kestrel—flapping up and over Beech Nut. It soon disappeared, but then looking out to sea again, again I spotted the harrier (or another one) dipping and hovering over the same far eastern field.
 White-throated sparrow. Although most birds I listed today were silent, toward Beech Hill Road I heard the distinctive alarm notes of a rose-breasted grosbeak and a northern cardinal. Marauding bands of chickadees were sweeping through that area also—but nothing else too interesting showed up. In fact, it took until we’d already crested the summit again and plunged into the trees for the next bird to pop up. Also silent. Flitted up into a twig very near the trail. We froze, it froze. At first I thought it an ovenbird, but I quickly saw it was a thrush. Specifically, a veery. I bet we watched each other for a good three minutes, if not more.
Nothing but a single vireo down the lower wooded trail—quite the contrast to yesterday—until we made the turn onto the last leg before the parking lot. I thought I caught sight of another silent, mouse-like bird jumping off the trail and into the brush. We stopped. Waited. A small movement. Sure enough, a quiet little bird. An ovenbird, ironically. When it moved, it seemed so subtle as hardly to influence the universe at all.
But I got a ghostly photo.
 Ovenbird. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:45 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Black-capped chickadee
2. Common yellowthroat
3. Gray catbird
4. Black-billed cuckoo (voice)
5. Eastern towhee (voice)
6. Blue jay (voice)
7. American robin (voice)
8. Chestnut-sided warbler
9. Cedar waxwing
10. White-throated sparrow
11. Red-eyed vireo
12. Northern harrier
13. Song sparrow
14. Kestrel
15. American crow (voice)
16. American goldfinch (voice)
17. Common raven (voice)
18. Rose-breasted grosbeak (voice)
19. Northern cardinal (voice)
20. Mourning dove
21. Veery
22. Ovenbird
Elsewhere
23. Herring gull
24. Tufted titmouse
25. Rock pigeon
 The bay.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common raven, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, gray catbird, herring gull, kestrel, mourning dove, Northern cardinal, Northern harrier, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, rock pigeon, rose-breasted grosbeak, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-throated sparrow
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Sunday, August 29th, 2010
 Yellow-rumped warbler (juvenile). Slept really late. Not sure why Jack didn’t wake me earlier—but we headed right up to Beech Hill and didn’t arrive until 9:15. Already pockets of heat and swirls of humidity had gathered in the moist, green hollows of the eastern slope, by now well lit by yellow sunlight.
Headed to the pickup, I heard—then saw—a small family of red-eyed vireos in the trees out back. Quay! one of them was saying. And coming up the hill, the second species I counted (after crow) was a red-eyed vireo (not unusual), but this one was singing a typical vireo song. Then came a chickadee, then a yellowthroat. Then the voice of the cuckoo that must’ve nested down on that side of the hill this year. Several times I’ve heard it there lately.
 Yellow-rumped warbler (juvenile). A raven croaked during our ascent. And between the tops of trees I caught sight of a large dark bird flapping east across the brilliant blue. Dark, with some white patches. An eagle? An osprey? I didn’t get a good enough look and so will never know.
At one point chickadees alerted me to a small gang of wood-warblers flitting about the warming canopy. Least shy was a young yellow-rump. There were also young chestnut-sideds there.
It being late, and fairly hot, not a lot of birds jumped out around the open trail. Came back over ahead of a good-sized group of hikers, and it was nice to dive into the cool shade of the wooded slope past Beech Nut. Heard a pewee and a nuthatch and a pileated woodpecker. Watched a pair of hairy woodpeckers tapping about in neighboring oaks.
Speaking of the oaks, dog and I passed through a little shower of acorns down there—they’ve been falling for a few weeks, but even with very little wind this morning they fell, and several landed fairly near us. One day I will get beaned.
Cicadas sang. Frogs. Crickets. No doubt it is still summer.
 Hairy woodpecker. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 9:15 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American crow (voice)
2. Red-eyed vireo
3. Black-capped chickadee
4. Common yellowthroat
5. Black-billed cuckoo (voice)
6. Eastern towhee (voice)
7. Common raven (voice)
8. Gray catbird
9. Yellow-rumped warbler
10. Chestnut-sided warbler
11. Cedar waxwing
12. Hairy woodpecker
13. American goldfinch (voice)
14. White-throated sparrow
15. Song sparrow
16. Savannah sparrow
17. Eastern flicker (voice)
18. Blue jay
19. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
20. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
21. Pileated woodpecker (voice)
Elsewhere
22. Herring gull
23. House sparrow
 Feathers on the trail.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common raven, common yellowthroat, eastern flicker, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house sparrow, pileated woodpecker, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Saturday, August 7th, 2010
 Sky, Beech Hill, Rockport, Maine, 07 August 2010. Today was a disappointment, photography-wise. I had wonderful chances at photos of: an amazingly colorful dragonfly; a low-soaring broad-winged hawk; a red-eyed vireo perched on a twig in sunlight not a dozen feet away. In every case, aut0-focus doomed me—each image came out blurred.
But today was a spectacular day. I guess I’ll have to fall back on actual memories.
 Common yellowthroat (female). We delayed the time of our usual Beech Hill hike this morning, Jack and I, on account of I’d volunteered for two two-hour shifts at today’s annual public blueberry pick on the hill. I’ve volunteered for this Coastal Mountains Land Trust event for a number of years running. It’s fun. The public loves it. Blueberries bring people together.
Not only that, but a highly publicized weather front moved through overnight, and the air got dry and cool, and the sun rose to a spectacular Maine summer day: 54 degrees when I first checked, but about room temperature by noon—and not a lick of humidity (nor any deer flies) to speak of.
The hill was packed with blueberry pickers. On parking duty, I counted at least fifty cars at one point.
 Turkey vulture. I also counted twenty-seven bird species. Most of these came first thing, as usual, on our hike up from the wooded side and over to the blueberry fields. But a few came later, as we directed slow-moving traffic over bumpy, grassy hillocks: the red-eyed vireo, the broad-wing, a sailing turkey vulture. At one point, a black-billed cuckoo called about a half-dozen times; this, the only sign of a cuckoo the whole four hours we were up there. I also heard both hermit thrush and veery—their notes, not their songs. And the chip of a cardinal. And a joyous titmouse.
Just about everyone walking by, with buckets and kids and smiles, commented on the amazing weather. “What a perfect day for it” is a phrase I heard about eight or ten times. And many children got to meet and pet Jack, whose head grew noticeably larger for all the compliments. He’s a kid-magnet, for sure, that dog is.
So screw the lost photos. Now, in evening, with the dry cool air wafting through the screens, I’m just about as content as a man can be.
 Soon-to-be-blackberries. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:15 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American crow
2. American goldfinch
3. Cedar waxwing
4. Red-eyed vireo
5. Black-capped chickadee
6. Common yellowthroat
7. Eastern towhee
8. Gray catbird
9. Song sparrow
10. White-throated sparrow
11. Eastern phoebe
12. Savannah sparrow
13. Black-and-white warbler
14. Hermit thrush
15. Veery
16. Blue jay
17. American robin
18. White-breasted nuthatch
19. Mourning dove
20. Tufted titmouse
21. Northern cardinal
22. Common raven
23. Yellow warbler
24. Broad-winged hawk
25. Black-billed cuckoo
26. Turkey vulture
27. Tree swallow
Elsewhere
28. House sparrow
29. Herring gull
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, broad-winged hawk, Cedar waxwing, common raven, common yellowthroat, Eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house sparrow, mourning dove, Northern cardinal, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Sunday, July 18th, 2010
 Savannah sparrow and fly. Sunny morning. Warm already. Deer flies, but fewer than lately. The usual species along the wooded trail—aside from ovenbird.
 Eastern towhee. Came upon another garter snake on the upper trail. It slid away before I could grab a photo. Cicadas singing everywhere. Also towhees, vireos, chestnut-sided warblers.
At the summit, Jack and I were surprised to see a young couple with an ice chest and a camp-out tent.
“Camping out?” I asked.
“We thought it was a nice spot.” Says the young guy.
“I think, technically, that’s not allowed,” says I. (They’d pitched their tent about ten feet from Beech Nut.) Then I noticed he was just twisting closed a big ol’ baggie full of blueberries. “Oh,” says I, “and FYI? I don’t believe that’s allowed, either.”
Later, heading down the open trail, I saw several herring gulls and heard the squeals of an osprey’s mid-summer display. All five sparrows again. A few thrushes. A couple flycatchers. Butterflies. Moths. Mushrooms. Cicadas.
 Fly. Coming back through the wooded trail, we came upon the same hovering fly I’d seen coming up. At least I assume it was the same fly—it was hovering in the same patch of sunlight. I tired for a good five minutes to snag a photo, but my damn auto-focus was an impediment. However, I managed a half-decent shot or two.
I’m starting realize I can count on hearing a hermit thrush, a wood-pewee, and a black-throated green warbler during just about every descent of the lower wooded trail. This morning I also heard a nuthatch, which rounded out the species for this spectacular summer day.
But the oddest part was the missing ovenbird. I can’t remember the last day I didn’t hear or see an ovenbird. Their chicks must be active, and therefore they’re especially silent. Or something.
 Chestnut-sided warbler. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:45 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. Chestnut-sided warbler
3. American goldfinch
4. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
5. Common yellowthroat
6. Eastern towhee
7. Gray catbird
8. Cedar waxwing
9. Veery (voice)
10. American crow
11. Alder flycatcher (voice)
12. Song sparrow
13. Mourning dove
14. Field sparrow (voice)
15. Savannah sparrow
16. Tree swallow
17. Hermit thrush (voice)
18. White-throated sparrow (voice)
19. Blue jay (voice)
20. Osprey (voice)
21. Common raven (voice)
22. Herring gull
23. Chipping sparrow (voice)
24. American robin
25. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
26. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
27. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
Elsewhere
28. Northern cardinal
29. Tufted titmouse
30. Double-crested cormorant
 Tiny mushrooms.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common raven, common yellowhtroat, double-crested cormorant, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, fild sparrow, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, mourning dove, Northern cardinal, osprey, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tre swallow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
|
|
| |
| Bird Report is an intermittent record of what's outside my window in Rockport, Maine, USA (44°08'N latitude, 69°06'W longitude), and vicinity. —Brian Willson |
|
|
