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Archive for the ‘Photo’ Category
Saturday, May 28th, 2011
 Eastern bluebird (female). Another moist day, although quite a bit cooler than yesterday. Light fog. House finch singing, house sparrows flitting about out front, crows in the oaks, the redstart calling out back. Spent most of the day doing desk work to the accompaniment of the former and latter.
About midday I took a quick trip to town, where I saw a few of our more cultured species—pigeons, starlings, grackle, red-winged blackbird—then at the end of the day Jack and I kept our appointment with the Beech Hill trails.
 Veery. Chilly, damp, quiet. Oh, there were birds singing—occasionally, and sort of softly. Goldfinch, chickadee, a few warblers. The most vocal by far seemed to be veeries. (Coincidentally, the first of many was a silent bird that flitted up into a small maple, eyeing me.) As we came around the first turn in the trail, a veery greeted us with its loud veer! note, repeated at regular intervals. In the distance I could hear another. And by the time we reached the second bird, I heard a third. At some point, they began to sing their distinctive descending phrases, like flowing fountains of song.
Elsewhere on the hill, I heard the songs of all three other resident thrushes—hermit thrush, wood thrush, robin. And walking along the upper fields, we surprised a ribbon snake, which undulated madly across the trail.
By the time we reached the fog-cloaked summit, I’d heard the voices of eighteen birds but had only seen three (chickadee, catbird, veery). But coming down the misty open trail, just as we noticed another couple of hikers approaching, I spotted a pair of small, dark birds flying off to the left, where they lit in the upper branches of a tree. Bluebirds, a male and female. First of the species I’ve seen this year on the hill—a place where you’d think they’d thrive. There aren’t as many bluebirds as there used to be, so it was particularly nice to see this pair.
 Eastern bluebird (male). As thicker fog gathered, I added another half-dozen species to my list. Then coming down the wooded trail, paying attention to the muddy footing, I noticed Jack fixing his gaze on something and looked up to see a turkey standing there not far away. We stopped, I accidentally stepped on Jack’s toe, he yiped, I apologized, and when I looked up again, the turkey was gone.
Earlier this evening, the finch and redstart were singing still, as the nuthatch and phoebe flitted to and from their nests.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American goldfinch (voice)
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. Chestnut-sided warbler (voice)
4. Ovenbird
5. Veery
6. Eastern towhee (voice)
7. Herring gull (voice)
8. Gray catbird
9. Common yellowthroat (voice)
10. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
11. American crow (voice)
12. American robin
13. Hermit thrush (voice)
14. Yellow warbler
15. Ruby-throated hummingbird (voice)
16. Alder flycatcher (voice)
17. Song sparrow (voice)
18. Blue jay (voice)
19. Wood thrush (voice)
20. Nashville warbler (voice)
21. Eastern bluebird
22. Savannah sparrow
23. American redstart (voice)
24. Field sparrow (voice)
25. Eastern phoebe
26. Tufted titmouse (voice)
27. Chipping sparrow (voice)
28. Wild turkey
Elsewhere
29. House finch
30. House sparrow
31. European starling
32. Red-winged blackbird
33. Common grackle
34. Rock pigeon
35. Mourning dove
36. White-breasted nuthatch
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common grackle, common yellowthroat, eastern bluebird, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, European starling, field sparrow, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, ovenbird, red-winged blackbird, rock pigeon, ruby-throated hummingbird, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, wild turkey, wood thrush, yellow warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations, Photo | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
 Scarlet tanager (male). We had a hazy sun this morning. We had fairly mild temperatures. We had no wind to speak of. I arrived at the Rockville Street parking lot with Jack, my dog, at pretty close to exactly 7 a.m., ready to tackle Beech Hill.
 Cedar waxwing. Warblers were singing in the leafy canopy. And the canopy is leafy—so much leafier than at the beginning of this month that it’s honestly difficult to fathom. Each day in May, the foliage grows and the raspberries encroach and the greenery increases. This is the greening, burgeoning, exploding season.
I missed the hill yesterday and had half a hope that hummingbirds would be back, but no. Mostly the usual suspects: eight or ten wood-warblers, towhees, catbirds, savannah sparrows, field sparrow. I neither saw nor heard a crow or raven—but I did hear a chestnut-sided warbler. Or two. Or a couple dozen. I have no doubt at all that these little feisty, handsome birds are the most abundant on tdhe hill.
Toward the summit, as usual, I began to hear the low-growth, grassland birds: song sparrow, field sparrow, savannah sparrow, catbird, towhee, yellow warbler. I didn’t see the resident tree swallows or any hawk. But coming down over the open trail, I heard the high-pitched squee of a waxwing and then saw the bird itself perched in some trailside foliage. The waxwing flew just about the time another bird flitted up from behind me, landing in the crown of a low tree not fifty feet away. It emitted a couple of low, rich notes, allowing me to make out its head poking up amid the leaves: an eastern bluebird! First I’ve seen up there in a couple-three years.
 Eastern bluebird. Through my binoculars, I watched the bluebird fly off. It headed away through the blank sky, steadily flapping, fluttering high in a southwesterly direction. First I wondered where it might be bound. Then I hoped for its return—or another like it. And then, as it receded to little more than a speck, I saw the tiny, antic shape of a double-crested cormorant crossing its path a mile or more away.
Arriving at the opposite Beech Hill parking lot, I couldn’t help but hear the raggedy notes of a tanager in the tall, mixed grove of trees. Despite its brilliant color, it took a minute to spot the bird—but once I did, it did its best to pose for me amid the yellow-green leaves. I watched it flit after flies and grab tiny bits of bark or seed. Somewhere beyond it came the pure notes of a titmouse.
Later, returning through the wooded section, I encountered a surprising drama: a battle of ovenbirds. As I crossed its territory, a male sang loudly to my left, repeatedly; suddenly another sang very near it, on the other side of the trail. At once the skirmish was on. Dog and I stopped and took in the crazy chase and chitter and call and return call, as the two birds swept swiftly through the understory, one after the other—at one point zipping not five feet over my head. This little species is serious when it comes to staking out its claim on a shady hillside.
Many, many chestnut-sideds today. The usual sparrows. No crow or raven, for some reason. But a number of secretive woodland birds—including, as we neared the end of our circuit, the wee-oh-lay of a wood thrush.
After a few hours, the day clouded up—but I kept thinking back to bluebird and tanager.
 Yellow warbler. Beech Hill List
At 7 a.m., I walked all trails
1. Ovenbird
2. Chestnut-sided warbler
3. Common yellowthroat
4. Black-capped chickadee
5. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
6. American robin
7. American goldfinch
8. Eastern towhee
9. Gray catbird
10. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
11. American redstart (voice)
12. Blue-headed vireo (voice)
13. Blue jay (voice)
14. White-throated sparrow (voice)
15. Nashville warbler (voice)
16. Mourning dove
17. Yellow warbler
18. Song sparrow (voice)
19. Eastern phoebe
20. Field sparrow
21. Savannah sparrow
22. Hermit thrush (voice)
23. Cedar waxwing
24. Eastern bluebird*
25. Double-crested cormorant
26. Chipping sparrow (voice)
27. Red-eyed vireo
28. Scarlet tanager
29. Tufted titmouse (voice)
30. Northern flicker (voice)
31. Wood thrush (voice)
Elsewhere
32. American crow
33. Herring gull
34. Rock pigeon
35. Laughing gull
36. Great crested flycatcher
 Savannah sparrow.
Tags: American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, blue-headed vireo, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, double-crested cormorant, eastern bluebird, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, field sparrow, gray catbird, hermit thrush, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern flicker, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, scarlet tanagert, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-throated sparrow, wood thrush, yellow warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations, Photo | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
 Turkey vulture. In the gray morning fog of semi-sleep, I heard a turkey gobble. Some time later, I heard it again. Heard the same thing last spring, as I recall: wild turkeys up the hill.
Turns out the morning was gray and foggy, too. Chilly. Where was this warming trend I heard so much about? Never mind. Still got the song sparrow, the phoebe, the house finch, the cardinal. One note about the cardinal: it has this crazy chippy call that I’ve never heard before—a chip, chip, and then a very rapid series of junco-like chips. Anyone else ever heard a cardinal do that?
 Common loon. Son of a gun if the sun didn’t emerge in late morning, and things warmed and dried. By the time dog and I headed for the hill in early afternoon, temperatures were in the 60s (F). Titmouse, chickadee, phoebe, song sparrow. Up toward the top, I spotted a turkey vulture circling. Quite a little wind up there, but it felt warm. (Flies are out, which means warblers aren’t far behind.) Another TV joined the first one, and they kept circling a while, never flapping their wings.
But on the way down, a small hawk sailed by, flapping its wings. A sharp-shinned hawk, near where I saw the kestrel yesterday. Didn’t manage a good photo, but I got a good look through binoculars. Not a lot else going on, though—until we’d nearly reached the bottom, when I heard the plaintive strains of a white-throated sparrow. Over and over it called. First white-throat song I’d heard this year.
On a late-in-the-day bike ride, I heard the usual urban birds: starling, house sparrow. Saw no rock pigeons today.
Then I decided on another dog-walk at the breakwater just as a line of dark blue clouds began to blow in from the west. This made it a brisk walk—didn’t want to get caught out there in a thundershower—and one without many birds sightings. Several loons is all, in various states of plumage (though a couple of these were calling). The western sky loomed darkly, and the air held a particularly rich salt-sea smell.
Afterward, I did a little grocery shopping just as a few raindrops began to fall. Clearly, the sky had opened up while I was in the supermarket: as I emerged, everything was wet, but the setting sun had broken through to the west—which always causes me to look east. Sure enough, a full-arc rainbow.
Today’s List
Wild turkey
Northern cardinal
Eastern phoebe
Song sparrow
House finch
Herring gull
Mourning dove
Tufted titmouse
American goldfinch
Turkey vulture
Sharp-shinned hawk
White-throated sparrow
European starling
House sparrow
Common loon
 Weather.
Tags: American goldfinch, common loon, eastern phoebe, European starling, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, sharp-shinned hawk, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture, white-throated sparrow, wild turkey
Posted in Observations, Photo | No Comments »
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| 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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