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Archive for April, 2012
Friday, April 27th, 2012
 Beech Nut. Rain this morning and overcast for much of the day. By day’s end, though, the clouds blew suddenly away, and with clearing came high winds and a cold spell. For a windy month, these might in fact have been the strongest winds I’ve felt at the summit of Beech Nut in April. I had to clamp my hat down four or five times and finally just swung it around backwards.
 Black-capped chickadee. Didn’t get out at all before my hike with Jack. But by the time we did head up the trail, I had with me a new camera and a little nervousness about what it might do. Well, I hadn’t figured out its rapid-shot setting yet, but I did discover it has a sweet lens, a powerful zoom, and nice resistance to glare. I’m excited to be using it to capture warblers within the week. A week when April becomes May. A week of transformation.
May Day means the arrival of warblers—in my mind, anyway. It also means the acceleration of leafing-out. At the beginning of May, the leaves are tiny and yellow or yellow-green or coppery red; by the end of the month, the forests will be lush, and the world will be green.
One of my first photos with the new camera today shows the current state of foliage around here (the shot of Beech Nut, above). The state of the birds is limbo, more or less. Sure, early migrants have been back for a while, but now will come the arrival of a flood of FOY (first-of-year) birds. A dozen—more than a dozen—warbler species. Vireos, thrushes, tanagers, flycatchers, cuckoos, hawks, cedar waxwings, hummingbirds, rose-breasted grosbeaks. By the end of May, my daily tally should hover somewhere around forty or so.
 Mallard pair. Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. A time of anticipation. Of transformation.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Black-capped chickadee*
2. Herring gull*
3. Eastern towhee (v)
4. American robin* (v)
5. Song sparrow (v)
6. Hairy woodpecker (drumming)
7. Mallard
Elsewhere
8. Northern cardinal (v)
9. Tufted titmouse (v)
10. American crow
11. Downy woodpecker
12. House finch
13. Mourning dove
v = Voice only
* Also elsewhere
Tags: American crow, American robin, black-capped chickadee, downy woodpecker, eastern towhee, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house finch, mallard, mourning dove, northern cardinal, song sparrow, tufted titmouse
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Thursday, April 26th, 2012
 Crow and redtail. Saw a crow harassing a red-tailed hawk in the sky above Beech Hill today—not exactly a first. But it got me thinking of all the various birds I’ve seen crows harass up there. Kestrel, bald eagle, raven. Must be a drag to be a big carnivorous bird with crows pestering you all the time. And for some reason today’s sighting reminded me of one I had my first full year in Maine years ago: a redtail being harassed by a crow being harassed by a grackle. Single file.
 Wood nymph at Beech Hill. Sun and wind today until late. About the time Jack and I began our hike, in fact, was when blue-gray began to rise in the western sky. By the time we’d reached the summit, the sky was about half cloudy. And by the time we arrived back at the parking lot, we had us a full-blown overcast.
But early on, I did get the pleasure of hearing my first laughing gull of the year over at Clam Cove, where a turkey vulture circling overhead. An osprey’s cry while out cycling. Pairs of titmice and chickadees engaged in quiet dining before dusk out back. It began to rain lightly a minute ago.
I’ve got a new camera coming tomorrow. Just in time for the warblers’ return.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. American goldfinch (v)*
2. American robin*
3. Eastern towhee (v)
4. Ruffed grouse
5. Mourning dove* (wingbeats)
6. Herring gull*
7. American crow*
8. Red-tailed hawk
9. Black-capped chickadee*
10. Wild turkey (v)
11. Hairy woodpecker
Elsewhere
12. Northern cardinal (v)
13. Tufted titmouse
14. House finch
15. Laughing gull (v)
16. Turkey vulture
17. Song sparrow (v)
18. House sparrow (v)
19. Osprey
20. Mallard
21. European starling (v)
22. White-breasted nuthatch (v)
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
 Maple blossoms, Glen Cove, Rockport, Maine, 26 April 2012.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, eastern towhee, European starling, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, laughing gull, mallard, mourning dove, northern cardinal, osprey, red-tailed hawk, ruffed grouse, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture, white-breasted nuthatch, wild turkey
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Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
 Ferns. A day of motion, a day of errands. Heard house finch, titmouse, and cardinal at home early. Heard house sparrow and (first-of-year) mockingbird in Rockland. Heard song sparrow and blue jay out the open window at the vet. (Both dog and cat are fine.) Heard white-throated sparrows while out cycling—and saw one in a little tree out front of the post office. Saw a pair of Canada geese at a little pond along Route 1.
The early overcast cleared away, and by the time Jack and I hit the hill, the sky was clear as could be.
 Wading. But, man, was the trail muddy. Or not so much muddy, actually, as flowing. Water from the big rain of a couple days ago has somehow funneled into primary underground channels and above-ground pathways—and a few of those pathways were long stretches of the wooded trails. Fewer birds on the hill, oddly, though I did hear the first song sparrow in a while. And towhees.
By the time we got back to the pickup, the two of us were spattered with mud. Like a boy and his dog.
Which is pretty much exactly what we were.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Mourning dove (v)*
2. American crow (v)*
3. Eastern towhee (v)
4. Herring gull
5. Song sparrow (v)*
6. Hairy woodpecker (v)
7. American robin (v)*
Elsewhere
8. Northern cardinal (v)
9. Tufted titmouse (v)
10. House finch (v)
11. House sparrow (v)
12. Northern mockingbird
13. European starling
14. Blue jay (v)
15. Black-capped chickadee (v)
16. Rock pigeon
17. Canada goose
18. White-throated sparrow
19. American goldfinch (v)
20. Mallard
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
 Flow on the trail.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, Canada goose, eastern towhee, European starling, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mallard, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern mockingbird, rock pigeon, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-throated sparrow
Posted in Lists, Observations | 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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