Summer is a time of shade. This morning dog and I got to the hill pretty early, after the sun had barely risen above the eastern canopy, now thick with new green leaves. The shadows were long, the light on the understory filtered and diffuse. The wild birds—with nestlings or fledglings or other secret business—lurked in shadow.
Whenever Jack and I moved into the shade, however, we were beset upon by mosquitoes. A dilemma: Do we hurry to the warm sun patches, where our fur or sweatshirt made us pant or sweat? Or do we linger in the cool of the shadows, where the action was.
Truth be told, we did a little of both.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 6:45 a.m., I hiked the open trail—and then some.
1. Red-eyed Vireo 2. Ovenbird 3. Black-and-white Warbler 4. Common Yellowthroat 5. Tufted Titmouse 6. Rose-breasted Grosbeak 7. Eastern Towhee 8. Alder Flycatcher 9. Cedar Waxwing 10. Chestnut-sided Warbler 11. Song Sparrow 12. Nashville Warbler 13. Eastern Bluebird 14. American Goldfinch 15. Tree Swallow 16. Field Sparrow 17. Eastern Phoebe 18. American Crow 19. Blue Jay 20. Chipping Sparrow 21. Yellow Warbler 22. Black-billed Cuckoo 23. Gray Catbird 24. Purple Finch 25. Eastern Wood-pewee 26. Black-capped Chickadee 27. Pileated Woodpecker 28. Downy Woodpecker 29. White-breasted Nuthatch 30. American Robin 31. Black-throated Green Warbler 32. American Redstart
Elsewhere
33. Herring Gull 34. Northern Cardinal
v = Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
The youngsters are staring to drop. Doesn’t take long for an egg to be laid and a fledgling to leave the next. Which brings me to the thought that it’d do us great good if we can just disentangle ourselves from this whole process.
But of course we Homo sapiens just can’t resist pretending we’re rulers of the planet, can we.
Still, a little baby Chipping Sparrow resurrects hope and promise on a lovely summer day.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:15 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American Robin* 2. Red-eyed Vireo** 3. American Goldfinch** 4. American Redstart (v) 5. Chipping Sparrow 6. Cedar Waxwing 7. American Crow* 8. Veery (v) 9. Rose-breasted Grosbeak (v) 10. Tree Swallow 11. Northern Cardinal 12. Alder Flycatcher (v) 13. Song Sparrow 14. Ovenbird (v) 15. Eastern Towhee (v) 16. Common Yellowthroat 17. Chestnut-sided Warbler (v) 18. Field Sparrow (v) 19. Eastern Phoebe* 20. Black-billed Cuckoo (v) 21. Yellow Warbler (v) 22. Eastern Wood-pewee** (v) 23. Black-capped Chickadee** (v) 24. Gray Catbird (v)
Elsewhere
25. Mourning Dove 26. Herring Gull 27. House Sparrow (v) 28. Red-winged Blackbird (v)
v = Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
Flushed two woodcock this sunny morning. Flushed one of them twice. All three times I hunted carefully for youngsters but didn’t see any—although I didn’t want to pester the woodcock families too much.
Also saw my first Beech Hill Bobolink in at least three years. Also, somehow, ended up with thirty-three species on today’s list.
Later today there came a couple of thundershowers, which was fun.
More fun tomorrow.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:30 a.m., I hiked the open trail—and then some.
1. Eastern Bluebird 2. Blue Jay** 3. American Goldfinch 4. Veery (v) 5. American Woodcock 6. Chipping Sparrow* 7. Chestnut-sided Warbler** (v) 8. American Crow* 9. Rose-breasted Grosbeak (v) 10. Alder Flycatcher 11. Ovenbird (v) 12. Tree Swallow 13. Eastern Towhee 14. Song Sparrow** 15. Field Sparrow (v) 16. Savannah Sparrow 17. Nashville Warbler (v) 18. Gray Catbird** (v) 19. Common Yellowthroat (v) 20. Eastern Phoebe* 21. Cedar Waxwing 22. Red-eyed Vireo** (v) 23. Eastern Wood-pewee (v) 24. Hermit Thrush (v) 25. Black-throated Green Warbler (v) 26. Black-throated Blue Warbler (v) 27. Black-capped Chickadee** 28. Bobolink 29. Herring Gull* 30. Great Crested Flycatcher (v) 31. Mourning Dove* (v) 32. Northern Cardinal** (v) 33. American Redstart (v) 34. American Robin*
Elsewhere
35. Mallard 36. European Starling
v = Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
