Tufted Titmouse.

I have solved a mystery that’s nagged me for some time. And by “some time,” I mean a few weeks, maybe a month. That’s about how long I’ve been hearing a declarative bird call I did not recognize.

After decades of listening, few bird calls around here are unrecognizable to me at this point—although I’m occasionally fooled by the voices of fly-by migrants. But not this a clear, loud “Weet-chew!” Just that, only that, albeit sometimes repeated after a long pause. Off in the trees, across the road, on the other side of the field. “Weet-chew!”

Right away I would’ve known “Please-please-pleased to meet you!”—but Chestnut-sided Warblers aren’t due for a month or more. Here was a short, simple “Weet-chew!”

It crossed my mind that perhaps I knew the bird, just not this particular call. I though it rather resembled the voice of a Tufted Titmouse—but here was no “Peter-peter-peter!” Nor “Pete? Pete? Pete?”

“Weet-chew!”

Well, this morning on the snow-caked hill, white below a bruise-colored sky, I listened to a pair of titmice hurling multiple “Peters” at each other from a distance of a hundred yards. (Like most birds’, their voices carry well.) Then, abruptly their back-and-forth declarations changed—both of them—to “Weet-chew!”

I do love revelations.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 9 a.m., I hiked the open trail.

1. American Crow*
2. American Robin*
3. Dark-eyed Junco
4. Purple Finch (v)
5. Tufted Titmouse
6. White-breasted Nuthatch
7. Black-capped Chickadee**
8. Northern Flicker
9. Pileated Woodpecker (drumming)
10. Herring Gull
11. American Goldfinch

Elsewhere

12. House Sparrow
13. Downy Woodpecker (v)
14. House Finch (v)
15. Mourning Dove
16. Rock Pigeon

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