One-legged towhee.
Days like this begin this way: the suns first rays split the blinds and find my sleeping eye; groggily, I roll out of bed, dress hurriedly, grab camera and binoculars and Jack’s leash; next thing you know, we’re at the wooded Beech Hill trailhead.
Nashville warbler.
And for the next hour or two (more like two), we both live in a state of perpetual alert.
Listening, mostly, both of us—or perhaps Jack’s nose is busier than my ears. But my ears are busy. Ovenbird, Nashville warbler, a song sparrow across the road. Black-and-white warbler, house finch, a couple other familiar birds. Then a northern parula’s buzzy, upward-sweeping trill. First-of-year bird! Black-throated green warbler, jay, catbird. Then witchety-witchety-witchety! First-of-year yellowthroat. Chickadees. Towhees and a hermit thrush in the distance. Chip-chip! nearby.
The chips of incoming warblers.
I scan the newly leafed-out tops of the poplars and young maples along the trail. Little birds up there, flitting, singing. A Nashville warbler. A chestnut-sided warbler. The impossibly loud voice of an ovenbird echoes off in the woods ahead of us. I hear the subtle warble of a rose-breasted grosbeak. I hear a crow.
I crane and lean and adjust my footing in an attempt to photograph the Nashville. A black fly lands in my ear, and another on my forehead just under my cap. I wave my hand around my face then refocus. Nashville warblers tend not to flit around crazily like parulas, but they’re shy, and while moving they stay high. I managed a not-too-decent photo.
Black-throated green warbler.
Soon after, though, a black-throated green warbler was somewhat more cooperative. I hear a black-and-white warbler—they’re typically cooperative also, but I didn’t cross paths with this one. Towhees calling all around.
I sneak up on a vociferous male towhee just ahead. It poses against the blue sky and I fire off some photos. It’s astonishingly agreeable, in fact—and only later, when checking photos, do I notice it doesn’t seem to have a left leg. Or maybe it was just tucked up in its feathers somehow.
A blue-headed vireo calls from the canopy—another bird that likes to stay high and hide behind new leaves. A mallard flies over, quacking. Then I hear the distinctive chibeck! chibeck! of a least flycatcher. Another first-of-year bird! Beyond it, I hear rustling in the old leaves, and a gang of white-throated sparrows suddenly flutters through the undergrowth, letting out an occasional tseet! of alarm. It wouldn’t be the first gang of white-throats we’d see this morning. They must be moving through.
At the edge of the upper fields, a yellowthroat calls declaratively. We sneak up on the yellowthroat. It stays behind twigs and stems. I manage a couple photos before it flits to a perfectly exposed perch and begins to sing—but as soon as I focus, it’s gone. (Every day seems to have one: what appears to unfold as a perfect photo but ends up a picture of sky.)
Common yellowthroat.
Savannah sparrows and phoebes at the summit. Not a surprise. But we must return, so we do.
Coming down the lower trail, I listen to warblers and robins and drumming woodpeckers. Then I hear it off in the trees—e-olay! A wood thrush. First one of the year.
Not until we’d slogged down the muddy track through the tall oaks, circled around the little pond, and emerged back at the parking lot did my ears and eyes take a breather.
Some like roller coasters or skydiving. A sunny early morning during spring migration does all that for me.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:30 a.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Mourning dove
2. Ovenbird* (v)
3. Nashville warbler
4. Song sparrow (v)
5. Black-and-white warbler* (v)
6. House finch* (v)
7. Downy woodpecker
8. American goldfinch
9. Northern parula‡ (v)
10. Black-throated green warbler*
11. Blue jay (v)
12. Gray catbird* (v)
13. Common yellowthroat‡
14. Black-capped chickadee
15. Eastern towhee
16. Hermit thrush (v)
17. Rose-breasted grosbeak (v)
18. Chestnut-sided warbler
19. American crow* (v)
20. Blue-headed vireo
21. Mallard*
22. Least flycatcher‡
23. White-throated sparrow
24. American robin*
25. Yellow-rumped warbler
26. Savannah sparrow
27. Eastern phoebe
28. Northern cardinal (v)
29. Wood thrush‡ (v)
30. Herring gull* (v)
Elsewhere
31. Tufted titmouse
32. Turkey vulture
33. Rock pigeon
34. House sparrow
35. House finch (v)
36 American woodcock (v)
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
‡First-of-year bird
Yellow-rumped warbler.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, American woodcock, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, blue-headed vireo, chestnut-sided warbler, common yellowthroat, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, least flycatcher, mallard, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, northern parula, ovenbird, rock pigeon, rose-breasted grosbeak, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture, white-throated sparrow, wood thrush, yellow-rumped warbler
