Song sparrow.

1. Wouldn’t you know, when Jack and I got to Beech Hill this foggy ol’ day, it had just begun to mist pretty heavily. Had only listed a handful of birds by the time we reached the upper junction of the wooded trail loop, when I heard the notes of a white-throated sparrow, so we stopped. I peered into the foliage and saw one bird—there were several sparrows in there, and more than one were calling—which appeared to be a youngster. Tried go get a photo, but it flew. Then a towhee popped up and posed for a perfect picture, so I swung my camera around, and it flitted away. Then I heard the chuck! of a catbird, turned again, and there it was, not ten feet away. Slowly moved my camera up, but it, too, flew. And then I heard the voices of a robin and a yellowthroat. Many more birds at that one spot than I’d seen or heard the whole way up there.

White-throated sparrow (dark juvenile).

2. Returning from the misty summit, I slowed as we reached the fruitful loop junction and, sure enough, I saw a few little birds right away. First, a yellowish warbler, which did not pause long enough to photograph well, but from a blurry shot, I’m calling it a black-throated green. Then, across the trail, another warbler. Its blurry photo IDed it as a female yellowthroat. Also chickadees there. Towhees. Robins.

3. While hiking in the mist, to keep my camera from getting wet, I swung it around under my left armpit area. During one long stretch of nothing to photograph, the camera went to sleep. Now, if the telephoto lens is extended when that happens—which it was—the lens pulls in automatically. First I heard a crazy whirring sound, and then I felt as if I’d been stung by a wasp or something as a fold of skin under my arm got sucked into the crease between the telephoto lens and housing. No harm done, but it liked to scared the shit out of me.

Note: no meteors again tonight, thanks to the persistent cloak of fog.

Beech Hill List

Beginning at 4 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.

1. Black-capped chickadee
2. American goldfinch* (v)
3. Eastern towhee
4. White-throated sparrow
5. Gray catbird
6. Common yellowthroat
7. American robin
8. Song sparrow
9. Cedar waxwing
10. Yellow warbler (v)
11. Herring gull* (v)
12. Savannah sparrow
13. Black-throated green warbler
14. Red-eyed vireo (v)
15. Eastern wood-pewee (v)

Elsewhere

16. American crow
17. Laughing gull
18. Mourning dove
19. Northern cardinal (v)

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere