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Archive for August, 2012
Tuesday, August 7th, 2012
 American robin (juvenile). Today was a lovely, coolish summer day, but because of desk work I didn’t get out in it at all—that is, of course, until Jack and I took a hike.
 Scarlet tanager (female or young male). The woods seemed particularly quiet today. What wind there was came from the south and west again, and the wooded trail winds up the northeast side of the hill. Fairly soon, we ran into a little collection of goldfinches, chickadees, and waxwings—waxwings, in fact, were flying around in loose groups all over the place—but nothing else until we’d reached about the half-way point, when I heard the mew of a catbird. Got a look at the bird, too, and heard the peeps of an alder flycatcher. And, in the distance below, the alarm note of a vireo.
At the first field edge, I got glimpses of a couple of bush-lurking yellowthroats, but not much at the summit. Just the wind in the long bronze grass and the twine delineating the blueberry-raking stripes, and a collection of crows down the southern slope and the voices of a song sparrow and a towhee.
Returning through the trees, at a curve in the trail that’s proved fruitful before, I heard the soft notes of robins. We stopped. There they were, a family of them (or two), zipping about in high branches. We paused so I could attempt a back-lit photo—and that’s when the fun began. First I heard the faint beeps of a nuthatch, then I spotted the bird up near the robins. Then I saw another bird leap up onto the limb of a more distant tree: a flicker. And then I saw another bird, a different species. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I grabbed a couple of (bad) photos. Only later could I ID it as a scarlet tanager, a female or young male.
 Northern flicker. Finally, at its familiar calling spot, an eastern wood-pewee.
Tonight is cool and lovely.
Note: I didn’t mention it yesterday, but I stayed up until the wee hours of Monday to follow the landing of Curiosity on Mars. Such an amazing technological accomplishment for our brainy species. And, man, was that fun TV.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4:45 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. American goldfinch (v)
2. Black-capped chickadee*
3. Cedar waxwing
4. Gray catbird
5. Red-eyed vireo (v)
6. Alder flycatcher
7. Common yellowthroat
8. Song sparrow (v)
9. American crow*
10. Eastern towhee (v)
11. Herring gull*
12. American robin
13. White-breasted nuthatch
14. Northern flicker
15. Scarlet tanager
16. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
Elsewhere
17. Northern cardinal
18. Mourning dove
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, red-eyed vireo, scarlet tanager, song sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch
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Monday, August 6th, 2012
 Tailfeather problems (cedar waxwing). One of my earliest memories is of a time in afternoon when I sitting or lounging on a couch with pillows covered with green, leafy fabric. The angular sunlight had illuminated the pillows—a narrow shaft of deep yellow light—and made the colors vivid. Dark greens, dark-dark greens, light greens. I remember being struck particularly by the rich olive green. I’ve liked the color ever since. And have always thought of afternoon light as conducive to contemplation.
 Common yellowthroat (female). On my afternoon hike of Beech Hill with Jack today, the colors of the foliage in the angular sunlight resembled the pattern on the couch pillows. The many shades of green were there, and the narrow shaft of deep yellow light. I felt contemplative all of a sudden. That’s when I remembered.
And I began looking everywhere for shafts of light, and the small scenes they illuminated.
There wasn’t much else to see up there this afternoon, frankly—at least not bird-wise. I did hear vireos, chickadees, goldfinches, towhees. The usual. I did see a waxwing with tail feathers akimbo, preening on a bare tree branch. I got a glimpse of a yellowthroat. And we met some humans in the woods for a change, an extended vacationing family. At the summit, we met again and chatted some. They were from North Carolina, very near where I lived in my impressionable years, where I first explored the woods alone. Those memories surely must’ve stuck with me, too.
I did catch glimpses of the two summit sparrow species: song and Savannah. But that was just about it up there this sunny afternoon. Well, other than the carcass of a robin Jack sniffed up along the side of the trail.
 Painted lady. I heard a living robin down in the lower woods, and also an eastern wood-pewee, where streams of ochre afternoon sunlight made sparse bright streaks in the deep shade.
Returning home, I decided my memory of leafy pillows must’ve come in the summertime those many years ago.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m, I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (v)
2. Black-capped chickadee (v)
3. American goldfinch* (v)
4. Cedar waxwing*
5. Eastern towhee (v)
6. Common yellowthroat
7. Song sparrow
8. Savannah sparrow
9. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
10. American robin (v)
Elsewhere
11. Herring gull
12. Rock pigeon
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tags: American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, herring gull, red-eyed vireo, rock pigeon, savannah sparrow, song sparrow
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Sunday, August 5th, 2012
 Common yellowthroat. Today was a gray day—not overly warm, but humid. And breezy. Decided to forgo riding my bicycle to let my arm rest (and kind of regretted it anyway), so I didn’t get out until late-afternoon, when Jack and I made the quick drive up to Beech Hill.
 Eastern towhee (female). What with the overcast sky and leafy hardwoods, the wooded trails was dark. The breeze made rushing sounds in the trees. Deer flies swarmed. Somewhere I heard the calls of chickadees—then, after a while, the mew! of a catbird and the distant caws of crows. Interesting, I thought, that the first three species of the day were sported only black or gray or black-and-white-and-gray.
About half-way up, I thought to look in the dead branches of the waxwing tree, and there were a few perched there. The wind grew stronger toward the summit, when the western fields opened up. We got hollered at by a couple of yellowthroats the last stretch of the way.
Up at Beech Nut, the wind really started to blow from the southwest. What I saw was a fog-blanketed landscape—and the fog was moving swiftly over us in the wind. I also saw a man and two kiddos picking blueberries near the hut. (This was Beech Nut’s annual free-blueberry-pick weekend.) And then, as we strolled a ways down the open trail, I saw two pairs of crows.
The crows were in the air down the southern slope, rising and falling in the wind and fog. Two would rise together, very near each other, in some purposeful dance, then dip again down behind the rise, and the other pair would rise together then dip down. We stood for a long moment so I could watch the display, one I’d never seen before. It was captivating. It looked like they were having fun, dancing in the wind and fog.
 August bloomer. As we descended, I heard the voices of a single goldfinch and a single song sparrow. Down in the dark lower woods, I heard the voices of a couple of vireos and a single wood-pewee.
Then, back at the parking lot, I heard the high whistles of a broad-winged hawk from somewhere the trees across the road.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Black-capped chickadee (v)
2. Gray catbird (v)
3. American crow
4. Cedar waxwing
5. Eastern towhee
6. Common yellowthroat
7. American goldfinch (v)
8. Song sparrow (v)
9. Red-eyed vireo (v)
10. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
11. Broad-winged hawk (v)
Elsewhere
12. Herring gull
13. Osprey
14. Mourning dove
15. Northern cardinal
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, broad-winged hawk, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, osprey, red-eyed vireo, song 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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