30 March 2023

Mud Season

March 29th, 2023
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 29 March 2023.
Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Red-tailed Hawk, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 29 March 2023.
Red-tailed Hawk.

What a morning. Nippier than yesterday but much brighter, and with a wide array of bird species. In fact, after five or six days of eighteen or nineteen (mostly nineteen) spp. on my list, today I ended up with twenty-one. (Was happy enough to have had twenty, until I looked at photos this evening and saw one of a raven.)

Captain Jack and I had fun. Didn’t meet anyone else on the trail until we’d nearly finished our round-trip. Highlights for me were the pair of harriers, the pair of red-tails, a posting yellow-rump, and more.

March is about over. Mud Season is nearly here. Soon I’ll be able to report many more firsts-of-year.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m. sun time (8 stupid DST), I hiked all trails.

1. Tufted Titmouse
2. White-breasted Nuthatch
3. Black-capped Chickadee
4. Downy Woodpecker
5. American Goldfinch
6. American Crow
7. Pileated Woodpecker
8. Brown Creeper
9. Herring Gull
10. American Robin
11. Red-winged Blackbird
12. Northern Cardinal
13. Blue Jay
14. Yellow-rumped Warbler
15. Song Sparrow
16. Northern Harrier
17. Eastern Bluebird
18. Red-tailed Hawk
19. Red-breasted Nuthatch
20. Common Raven
21. Hairy Woodpecker

Elsewhere

22. Mallard
23. Wild Turkey

(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere

†First-of-year

Lovely Overcast Morn

March 28th, 2023
Chatty chickadee, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 28 March 2023.
Chatty chickadee.

An overcast morning with temps a bit above freezing and a smattering of drizzle and flurries. But despite the weather, many bird species made themselves heard before we’d proceeded a hundred yards or so up the trail. Over time, the numbers declined—and I broke me multi-day streak of 19 spp. (18 today)—but still a nice day of hiking and birding and being outside.

Notable might’ve been a grackle flyover and a Killdeer flyover (two), but otherwise no firsts-of-year today. Those will come soon enough, though.

Tomorrow will be sun.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m. sun time (8 stupid DST), I hiked all trails.

1. Blue Jay (v)
2. American Crow*
3. American Goldfinch**
4. Tufted Titmouse (v)
5. Black-capped Chickadee**
6. Red-bellied Woodpecker (v)
7. Downy Woodpecker**
8. Red-breasted Nuthatch
9. White-breasted Nuthatch**
10. American Robin**
11. Herring Gull* (v)
12. Eastern Bluebird
13. Red-winged Blackbird (v)
14. Song Sparrow**
15. Yellow-rumped Warbler
16. Northern Cardinal** (v)
17. Common Grackle (v)
18. Killdeer

Elsewhere

19. Mourning Dove
20. House Sparrow (v)
21. Hairy Woodpecker

Mammals

Eastern Chimpunk

(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere

†First-of-year

Certainty of Spring

March 27th, 2023
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 27 March 2023.
Yellow-rumped Warbler.

This morning dawned mostly clear with light winds and temperatures right around freezing. What with the sun’s brightness, I had hopes of some decent photos for a change—and I got a few.

Notable was a singing Brown Creeper right by the wooded trailhead. Also singing were chickadees, robins, titmice, Song Sparrows, and bluebirds. The bluebirds were apparently laying claim to a couple of bird boxes, and a yellow-rump posed nearby for photos.

Every day lately has affirmed the certainty of spring. I do love this wet, moist, liquid time of year.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:43 a.m. sun time (7:43 dumb time), I hiked all trails.

1. Blue Jay
2. Northern Cardinal** (v)
3. Brown Creeper
4. White-breasted Nuthatch
5. Eastern Bluebird
6. American Crow*
7. Tufted Titmouse** (v)
8. Black-capped Chickadee**
9. Mallard*
10. Downy Woodpecker** (v)
11. American Goldfinch**
12. Hairy Woodpecker (v)
13. American Robin**
14. Red-winged Blackbird (v)
15. Herring Gull* (v)
16. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v)
17. Song Sparrow**
18. Yellow-rumped Warbler
19. Northern Flicker (v)

Elsewhere

20. Mourning Dove
21. Wild Turkey

(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere

†First-of-year

 
Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson



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