I’m not sure I mention often enough how much I appreciate Veeries. These little burnt-orange-backed thrushes arrive a little late, but arrive they do, to deliver their familiar Veeyur! alarm notes and their cascading fountains of song.
They also seem more friendly than the other woodland thrushes, tending to stick to the trails, hopping along in front of dog and me just around the next curve.
I love all thrushes, of course, have learned their songs and clucks and other sounds. Veeries, though, are highly underrated.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked all trails.
I love wood-pewees. They might be plain little birds—inconspicuous forest flycatchers that perch about half-way up the understory, ready to flit from their snag to nab a mosquito or other winged insect—but they have, to me anyway, an irresistible song.
Four long, whistled phrases, separated by lingering pauses. The first three are identical, ending in an quizzical upward inflection. The fourth ends a downward slide: “It is what it is.” The whole series takes the better part of a minute to complete.
The song of a pewee is a poignant, plaintive thing. It makes me feel nostalgic for long-ago seasons past.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:15 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Red-eyed Vireo 2. American Goldfinch (v) 3. Common Yellowthroat 4. Chestnut-sided Warbler 5. Ovenbird** (v) 6. Gray Catbird** 7. American Redstart* (v) 8. Northern Parula* (v) 9. Hairy Woodpecker (v) 10. Eastern Wood-pewee* 11. Blue Jay (v) 12. Eastern Towhee** 13. Alder Flycatcher 14. Yellow Warbler* 15. American Crow* 16. Veery (v) 17. Wood Thrush (v) 18. Scarlet Tanager* (v) 19. Black-throated Green Warbler (v) 20. Black-and-white Warbler (v) 21. Field Sparrow (v) 22. Song Sparrow 23. Great Crested Flycatcher (v) 24. Tree Swallow 25. Common Raven 26. Eastern Phoebe* 27. Tufted Titmouse (v) 28. Black-capped Chickadee (v) 29. Nashville Warbler 30. American Robin* (v) 31. Hermit Thrush (v) 32. Black-throated Blue Warbler (v) 33. Least Flycatcher (v) 34. Chipping Sparrow* (v) 35. Northern Cardinal* (v)
Elsewhere
36. House Finch 37. Mourning Dove
v = Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
