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Archive for August, 2011
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
 Fern. Birding in the rain can prove challenging. Especially if you mix a little coastal fog in there. Frankly I didn’t expect too much action.
 White-throated sparrow. Because it rained pretty much all day. Not a hard rain—in fact, more like a persistent mist. But even that can soak the landscape and cause a noticeable temperature dip. Didn’t take me long to shut most of the windows.
No bicycle riding today. Didn’t even get out until after work, when I ran a few errands with Jack before we took a spin by Beech Hill. Where, unsurprisingly, ours was the only vehicle in the parking lot. I like to think I can tell how birdy it’s going to be by the sound in the air as soon as I step out of the pickup. Well, today, there was only the whisper of mist on the leaves. Oh, well.
Then on coming around the first little curve, I heard something. A chickadee. We stopped so I could scan for it. Didn’t see a chickadee, but I did spot a couple little birds chasing each other toward the top of a young hardwood. They were flashing a bit of yellow. Through my binoculars, I identified them as young redstarts, no doubt from this year’s brood.
Then I heard a towhee.
 Eastern phoebe (fledgling). And then a white-throated sparrow suddenly began hollering at us from a trailside bush. We stopped again and I saw there were two sparrows in the bush—one an adult with a mouthful of caterpillar, and one an apparent fledgling, hollering for it. The youngster was out of luck as long as we stood there, though, looked like.
Then a savannah sparrow zipped away from the trail, and I heard crows.
We got pretty damp. At the summit, I heard the mew! of a catbird and spotted more sparrows. And heard the clear squeals of a young bird of some species up in the spruces. Found that bird—a young phoebe, I imagine from the nest up at Beech Nut. And then I caught sight of a female yellowthroat that popped up to see what all the fuss was about.
Nothing new on the way down. Just mist on the raspberries, droplets on the ferns.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:45 p.m, I hiked the open trail.
1. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
2. American redstart
3. American goldfinch (voice)
4. Eastern towhee (voice)
5. White-throated sparrow
6. Savannah sparrow
7. American crow (voice)
8. Gray catbird (voice)
9. Eastern phoebe
10. Common yellowthroat
Elsewhere
11. Northern cardinal
12. Song sparrow
13. House sparrow
14. Herring gull
15. Double-crested cormorant
16. Mourning dove
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, black-capped chickadee, common yellowthroat, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, gray catbird, herring gull, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, song sparrow, white-throated sparrow
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Tuesday, August 9th, 2011
 Jack on the trail. Today was a quiet day. Sun streamed through the blinds first thing, and a little family of titmice made some noise out back, and a cardinal sang—but mostly kind of quiet.
Traffic on Route 1 was high, true, but I had a quiet breakfast, watched a couple chattering chickadees move through, spent a quiet morning at my desk. The sun persisted. A few gulls up there. A couple motorcycles made some racket in the parking lot of the motel across the road, but although it alarmed Jack some, it didn’t bother me much. And in mid-afternoon, I embarked on my usual bicycle ride.
 Birch. Crows on the roadside. A chipping sparrow in Rockport Village. A family of robins winging over Route 1. Ospreys in three places—two screaming, one carrying a fish silently. Pigeons in town.
Did a few errands, then headed with dog to Beech Hill. The sky had grown mostly overcast by that time. We hiked the open trail again. A homeowner near the parking lot was mowing, which drowned out most birdsong, but I did hear a goldfinch in flight. And on our way up the trail, a couple towhees. And then—a nice surprise—the tseet! note of a white-throated sparrow. But not much else. Quiet.
I heard the note of a sparrow that I couldn’t identify and even got a glimpse of the bird—possibly a chippy—but didn’t manage a good enough look. A couple coming down paused as I was checking out the bird, and then we had a nice chat about the birds of Beech Hill. But not many made an appearance up there this evening.
I did see a tight flock of waxwings, and a gathering of crows down the southern slope, but that was all I saw. I did hear a flicker, though. The white-throat and flicker were nice.
Oddly, today was the first day in a good while that I had more birds on my list from elsewhere than from Beech Hill. E.g., a black-back and cormorant at Chickawaukie Lake. The ospreys. Song sparrow, titmouse, chickadee, and cardinal at home. But Jack and I got to eat a few blackberries and a blueberry or two. And the sky up there was nice, if mostly gray.
 Beech Nut. Tonight, I have a premonition of rain. But just now, things are quiet. A soft breeze in the trees is the only sound.
A pretty quiet day overall.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American goldfinch (voice)
2. Eastern towhee (voice)
3. White-throated sparrow (voice)
4. American crow
5. Gray catbird (voice)
6. Savannah sparrow (voice)
7. Northern flicker (voice)
8. Cedar waxwing
Elsewhere
9. Tufted titmouse
10. Black-capped chickadee
11. Northern cardinal
12. Song sparrow
13. Herring gull
14. American robin
15. Osprey
16. Rock pigeon
17. Chipping sparrow
18. Great black-backed gull
19. Double-crested cormorant
20. Mourning dove
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, chipping sparrow, double-crested cormorant, eastern towhee, gray catbird, great black-backed gull, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, osprey, rock pigeon, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-throated sparrow
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Monday, August 8th, 2011
 Blackberries. The appearance of ripe blackberries never fails to astonish me. I’ll be hiking along a scrubby summer trail one sunny day in August, and suddenly there they are. It’s as if they appear by magic overnight. (Perhaps they do.) And then I eat a handful.
 American lady. This day began a little soggy—which perhaps shouldn’t have surprised anyone, considering yesterday’s drenching—but dried up pretty quickly. The low clouds pulled back to reveal a blue sky beyond a slow stampede of great, high cumulus. There were gulls up there, too, and cardinals singing in the shady tangles out back. I spent a relatively leisurely day at my desk, catching up from a relatively frantic weekend, rediscovering my bearings.
Early in afternoon, with no sign of a a rumored thundershower, I jumped on my bike and pedaled to town. Bank, post office. Turned and pedaled the other way up to where I like to buy my tubes (I might’ve forgotten to mention the flat tire I had to change on Saturday). I’ll bet the high temperature didn’t rise out of the 70s (F), but I worked up plenty of perspiration nonetheless. At one point, in Rockport Village, a robin darted across the road not three feet in front of me—so close I could see the whites of its eyes. OK, not really. But close enough.
Coming back south I noticed a small collection of Canada geese in a little pond. Heard a nuthatch. Mourning doves on utility lines. Roadside crows.
After work, I decided Jack might like a hike up the open Beech Hill trail for a change. Also, I felt like avoiding the prospect of larval deer ticks on the wooded trails, for this is the season.
 Gray catbird. The sun shone down around the piles of mountainous clouds, and my bird list began to mount. First I heard the coos of a dove. Then the familiar voices of goldfinch and waxwing. By the time we reached the summit (it doesn’t take that long), I’d added a raven and an osprey to my list. We took a quick side-trip down along the blueberry fields on the wooded side, and the ospreys kept screaming. I spotted them finally—a family apparently, stretching their wings—soaring lazily over the northern hillside. It was down along those fields when I stumbled on the blackberries.
I’m sure I let out a whispered cry. “Whoa.” “Cool.” Something like that. First I took some pictures, and then I picked some blackberries.
Blueberries might be sweeter and more delectable. But there’s something about the little bite, the slight crunch of a ripe, juicy blackberry. There’s a lot of juice in a blackberry. I introduced Jack to their sweet-sour juiciness.
This cool, blue evening the sky cleared completely. And the waxwing moon set whitely in the southeast sky. It must be a blackberry moon.
Later: after midnight, I spotted a possum loping swiftly along the shoulder of Route 1, headed in my direction. It took a left into my parking lot and looked for a moment like it was headed up the back stairs—but then I heard the slight sound of it climbing the hill.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Mourning dove (voice)
2. American goldfinch (voice)
3. Cedar waxwing
4. Chestnut-sided warbler
5. Common raven (voice)
6. Eastern towhee
7. Osprey
8. American robin (voice)
9. Common yellowthroat (voice)
10. Savannah sparrow (voice)
11. Gray catbird
12. Song sparrow
13. Alder flycatcher (voice)
14. American crow (voice)
15. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
16. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
17. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
18. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
Elsewhere
19. Northern cardinal
20. Herring gull
21. Canada goose
 Southeastern field.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, Canada goose, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common raven, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, osprey, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch
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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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