Early to the hill again, and again an embarrassment of species. Noteworthy was a Yellow-throated Vireo I heard calling just down from the summit. Also noteworthy were various fledglings—including a couple first-day Eastern Phoebe babies at the hut.
Male eastern bluebird.
Bluebirds abounded. Plenty of other species also. We’ve already got probably twice as many migratory birds as arrived here just a few weeks ago. And many more still will fly south come fall.
Rain tonight. A little tomorrow. Flooding is a rare challenge—but better too much rain than not enough.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 6:45 a.m., I hiked the open trail—and then some.
Summer is a time of shade. This morning dog and I got to the hill pretty early, after the sun had barely risen above the eastern canopy, now thick with new green leaves. The shadows were long, the light on the understory filtered and diffuse. The wild birds—with nestlings or fledglings or other secret business—lurked in shadow.
Whenever Jack and I moved into the shade, however, we were beset upon by mosquitoes. A dilemma: Do we hurry to the warm sun patches, where our fur or sweatshirt made us pant or sweat? Or do we linger in the cool of the shadows, where the action was.
Truth be told, we did a little of both.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 6:45 a.m., I hiked the open trail—and then some.
1a. Red-eyed Vireo 2. Ovenbird 3. Black-and-white Warbler 4. Common Yellowthroat 5. Tufted Titmouse 6. Rose-breasted Grosbeak 7. Eastern Towhee 8. Alder Flycatcher 9. Cedar Waxwing 10. Chestnut-sided Warbler 11. Song Sparrow 12. Nashville Warbler 13. Eastern Bluebird 14. American Goldfinch 15. Tree Swallow 16. Field Sparrow 17. Eastern Phoebe 18. American Crow 19. Blue Jay 20. Chipping Sparrow 21. Yellow Warbler 22. Black-billed Cuckoo 23. Gray Catbird 24. Purple Finch 25. Eastern Wood-pewee 26. Black-capped Chickadee 27. Pileated Woodpecker 28. Downy Woodpecker 29. White-breasted Nuthatch 30. American Robin 31. Black-throated Green Warbler 32. American Redstart
Elsewhere
33. Herring Gull 34. Northern Cardinal
v = Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
The youngsters are staring to drop. Doesn’t take long for an egg to be laid and a fledgling to leave the next. Which brings me to the thought that it’d do us great good if we can just disentangle ourselves from this whole process.
But of course we Homo sapiens just can’t resist pretending we’re rulers of the planet, can we.
Still, a little baby Chipping Sparrow resurrects hope and promise on a lovely summer day.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:15 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American Robin* 2. Red-eyed Vireo** 3. American Goldfinch** 4. American Redstart (v) 5. Chipping Sparrow 6. Cedar Waxwing 7. American Crow* 8. Veery (v) 9. Rose-breasted Grosbeak (v) 10. Tree Swallow 11. Northern Cardinal 12. Alder Flycatcher (v) 13. Song Sparrow 14. Ovenbird (v) 15. Eastern Towhee (v) 16. Common Yellowthroat 17. Chestnut-sided Warbler (v) 18. Field Sparrow (v) 19. Eastern Phoebe* 20. Black-billed Cuckoo (v) 21. Yellow Warbler (v) 22. Eastern Wood-pewee** (v) 23. Black-capped Chickadee** (v) 24. Gray Catbird (v)
Elsewhere
25. Mourning Dove 26. Herring Gull 27. House Sparrow (v) 28. Red-winged Blackbird (v)
v = Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
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
