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Archive for August, 2012
Saturday, August 25th, 2012
 Black-throated green warbler. On this latest in a series of calm, quiet afternoons on the wooded Beech Hill trail, Jack and I found what had to be the calmest and most quiet. So quiet that I felt compelled to walk slowly, as quietly as I could, so as not to disturb the stillness. Jack didn’t seem to mind.
 Red-eyed vireo. What I heard were the trills of crickets and the rush of distant traffic. An occasional wood frog. It took several long minutes before I heard evidence of any bird: a catbird, mewing softly from a thicket. Then a goldfinch flying overhead. By the time we’d reached the half-way point, I’d added the caw of a crow, the note of a song sparrow, and the cries of a faraway osprey. Not until we’d neared the summit fields did the first roving band of chickadees show up, and their peeps were faint and sparse. But I know to stop for chickadees, and sure enough they were accompanied by the first species I actually saw up there today—a little family of black-throated green warblers I spotted flitting through the trees.
At the field edge, then, a commotion. Chip notes of yellowthroats and white-throated sparrows, cries of towhees beyond. And as I stood there peering into the brush to get a good look, a red-eyed vireo popped silently up and began plucking at some trailside berries.
At about that point, both dog and I heard another commotion coming from the summit: human laughter and conversation. Come to find out a private party was going on at Beech Nut. Our friend Kristen was up there keeping watch. (She’d just seen a migrating nighthawk.) And this side of the bay sails, I caught sight of a herring gull.
 Common yellowthroat. Back down in the trees, the pewees are still about. And I heard the thin calls of a waxwing or two. But little else disturbed the summer stillness of the lovely silent woods.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Gray catbird
2. American goldfinch (v)
3. American crow* (v)
4. Song sparrow (v)
5. Osprey (v)
6. Black-capped chickadee*
7. Black-throated green warbler
8. Common yellowthroat
9. Eastern towhee (v)
10. White-throated sparrow
11. Red-eyed vireo
12. Herring gull
13. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
14. Cedar waxwing (v)
Elsewhere
15. Rock pigeon
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, herring gull, osprey, red-eyed vireo, rock pigeon, song sparrow, white-throated sparrow
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Friday, August 24th, 2012
 Broad-winged hawk. You awaken to another beautiful day on the 44th parallel. You go through your routines—breakfast, work, lunch, more work, errands—and finally end up at Beech Hill. It’s quiet up there again (as you expect), and you figure it’ll be a day much like yesterday.
And then you get a surprise or two.
 Yellow-rumped warbler. Not a lot to see or hear unless you pay close attention. Close attention is what got me a good look at a red-eyed vireo, for instance, and a listen to a couple subtle notes from the resident flicker. Chickadees were about, and catbirds. Several wood-pewees, even, audible from various points on the hill. Then we got to the fields, where I heard the chips of an unidentified warbler and the peep! of what sounded like an alder flycatcher. As we was creeping up for what I’d hoped was a peek at those birds, a hawk flew over.
The hawk was circling low above us. A broad-winged hawk. It circled directly above us three, four times, checking us out—so close, in fact, that it was hard for me to focus my camera. We stood there for at least three minutes, I’d say, as I struggled to get a decent photo. Hadn’t seen a broad-winged for a while.
At the summit, we met a visiting couple with whom I had a nice conversation. I was pleased to be able to ID a bird they’d heard just by their description of its voice and habitat (hermit thrush). As we chatted, I heard a song sparrow and some goldfinches in overflight. Then, as we started quietly back down, I heard a dry chip near a tangle of thicket, and we stopped. A warbler flitted right up into a bush and began plucking at its small berries. It was a young yellow-rumped warbler. Haven’t seen one of those up there in a good while—possibly even since mid-spring. (I’ll see a lot more come fall, though.)
 Eastern chipmunk. Returning, Jack alerted me to a couple of flocks of secretive turkeys. And finally, I heard the alarm notes of a robin. Hello, Mr. Robin. Been a while.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4:30 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Black-capped chickadee*
2. American crow* (v)
3. Gray catbird
4. Red-eyed vireo
5. Northern flicker (v)
6. American goldfinch*
7. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
8. Broad-winged hawk
9. Song sparrow (v)
10. Yellow-rumped warbler
11. Wild turkey
12. American robin (v)
Elsewhere
13. Herring gull
14. Mourning dove
15. Black-throated green warbler
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, broad-winged hawk, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, herring gull, mourning dove, northern flicker, red-eyed vireo, song sparrow, wild turkey, yellow-rumped warbler
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Thursday, August 23rd, 2012
 Alder flycatcher. Another beautiful summer day. Another beautiful summer day without my bike. But that’s all right—I had a cardinal flitting around the place early, and I got a lot of desk work done. And another day in which I didn’t make it out and about until the end of it, when Jack and I took our daily through the woods of Beech Hill.
Another quiet hike—quieter even than yesterday. Now and again, we’d stop so I could look and listen. Nothing flitting through the trees, no peeps in the distant trees. Until, finally, I heard a chickadee. A solitary chickadee. It checked us out for a minute then headed away.
A few minutes later, I heard the faint mew! of a catbird. That was it, just one mew!
 Vine. And a few minutes after that, I heard the call of a flicker—one of the species’ signature, long staccato calls that seems to last forever and makes you wonder how they can go so long without taking a breath. No towhee, though. No sign of yellowthroats nor other warblers. But then we did hear something that got our attention, something that sounded like it was walking through the brush about thirty feet away. Jack began to growl a little, even. I suspected a turkey, and my suspicion proved correct when I got just a glimpse of its long neck as it disappeared up the trail ahead of us.
Nearing the first fields, I finally did catch sight of a silent passerine: an alder flycatcher. It perched on a back-lit twig looking around for flies.
No humans at the summit, but I did hear the caws of a crow coming from somewhere down the southern slope. Plenty of sails in the bay.
Returning, I heard the high-pitched whistle of a waxwing coming from high in the wooded canopy. First waxwing in a few days—a straggler, I imagine. In fact, what seems to be left up there are stragglers, hangers on. A few quiet families moving about, stocking up on food. Not the chickadees nor turkeys—nor even the flicker, possibly. Those species (along with a few crows) will hang around all year. But the catbirds, the waxwings, the flycatchers, the warblers—these migratory species will soon be moving away.
I did hear a pewee down in the lower woods—four pewees, actually. They’re late to arrive, late to nest, late to leave the nest. Stragglers. Hangers on.
Then back home this evening at about 7:30 I had a nice surprise. I’d been listening to some rapid-fire chattering in the woods out back that sounded to me like the voices of warbler fledglings demanding food. Not a lot of light that time of day, and I didn’t expect to see anything—but I did. A tiny bird flitting high in an oak overhanging the parking lot. I grabbed my binocs and watched for the movement. There it suddenly was, pausing at the end of a leafy branch: an adult male black-throated green warbler.
The warbler, too, will soon be moving away.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m, I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Black-capped chickadee*
2. Gray catbird (v)
3. Northern flicker (v)
4. Alder flycatcher
5. Wild turkey
6. American crow* (v)
7. Cedar waxwing (v)
8. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
Elsewhere
9. Northern cardinal
10. Herring gull
11. Mallard
12. Mourning dove
13. Black-throated green warbler
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, Cedar waxwing, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, herring gull, mallard, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, wild turkey
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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