American robin.

Our friend Kristen accompanied me and Jack on our Beech Hill hike this afternoon—a nippy, breezy, overcast afternoon. The hill was a riot of robins.

American crow.

We spotted a large batch of ’em as we neared the parking lot. Then we spotted a larger batch down by the sumac on the southern slope. Then we watched that batch merge with another and travel westward, then northward across the trail behind us to dine on something in bare patches of field. We also spotted a mess of flickers (at least five, by Kristen’s count—I had lent her my binocs, since she’d left hers in her car), a red-tail, a solitary gull, and maybe a half-dozen crows.

Returning from the summit, we encountered the robins again, sailing over and moving ahead of us down the trail. There must’ve been at least fifty of ’em up there this afternoon, all told.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 2:45 p.m., I hiked the open trail.

1. American robin*
2. Black-capped chickadee**
3. White-breasted nuthatch (v)
4. American crow*
5. Northern flicker
6. Red-tailed hawk
7. Herring gull*

Elsewhere

8. House sparrow (v)

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere