American redstart.
The best discoveries happen unbid. You sail for the East Indies, and you wash up on a new continent. You give up on love, and right away you’re head over heels. You’re looking for gold, and you find platinum. This kind of happy accident occurs all the time when you’re birding.
Take this morning on the Beech Hill trail.
Song sparrow.
Jack and I decided to sleep in and didn’t get there until 7:30 a.m., missing the busiest bird activity. But singers were holding forth nonetheless—including, to my surprise, a red-bellied woodpecker. (Have not encountered one up there for a couple years, I would guess.) The songs of many warblers drizzled down from the canopy. A goldfinch flew over. A phoebe was calling from somewhere. But despite all the joyful noise, I didn’t see a single bird until we’d gone a hundred yards or so, when a hermit thrush flitted up onto the branch of a nearby tree. Shortly after, I got a look at an ovenbird. Funny that a pair of shy, drab woodland species would be my first two sightings.
All that changed, of course, after we’d traveled a little distance. Warblers showed up on the trailside, and towhees, catbirds, sparrows. Met Ed again this morning, and we had a nice chat. As we descended the open trail, he pointed out a hummingbird—a first-of-year species, for me.
Returning, I heard quacking and looked up to see a couple mallards fly over. Then a chestnut-sided warbler drew my attention, and as I was concentrating on getting a photo, I heard the voice of a raven, looked up, and watched three of the big black birds fly over in a hurry, one of them making all kinds of noise.
Black-throated blue warbler.
At the top of the wooded trails, I met my friend Kristen, which was a nice surprise. We stood for maybe fifteen minutes just listening to what we could hear. We heard a ruby-throat, a chestnut-sided singing a variant song, and probably a dozen other species. Kristen also heard the call of a bobolink, which somehow escaped me. (I can’t believe I missed its distinctive voice.) Then she continued up, and I continued down. No great photos at this point, but a couple of nice birds.
About half-way down the muddy lower wooded trail, I heard the song of a black-throated blue warbler—another first-of-year bird, and not far away. I decided to try for a photo, so I led Jack off the trail and we climbed a leafy slope beneath some hardwoods. BTBs don’t tend to flit as frantically as some warblers, and it took me a while to spot the bird fairly high in a tree. We crept nearer, and I crouched down to get a better look. The bird was backlit. Damn. Wouldn’t be a great shot. And just as I had that thought, I redstart jumped up from somewhere, not twenty feet away, grabbed a moth, and lit in a low tree in full view. Gleeful, I snapped off some photos. (The redstart had stopped on the far side of a woody stem, but I really like one photo anyway.)
And that, dear reader, was my little brush with serendipity.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:30 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Common yellowthroat*
2. Ovenbird*
3. Red-bellied woodpecker‡ (v)
4. Eastern phoebe
5. Black-throated green warbler*
6. Black-capped chickadee*
7. Black-and-white warbler
8. Herring gull* (v)
9. Chestnut-sided warbler
10. Northern parula (v)
11. American goldfinch* (v)
12. Rose-breasted grosbeak (v)
13. Veery (v)
14. Mourning dove* (v)
15. American crow*
16. Gray catbird*
17. Hermit thrush
18. Northern cardinal* (v)
19. American redstart
20. Eastern towhee
21. Yellow warbler (v)
22. Song sparrow*
23. Tree swallow
24. Blue jay (v)
25. White-throated sparrow
26. Nashville warbler (v)
27. Tufted titmouse
28. Ruby-throated hummingbird‡
29. White-breasted nuthatch (v)
30. Mallard*
31. Common raven
32. Savannah sparrow
33. Ruffed grouse (drumming)
34. Black-throated blue warbler
Elsewhere
35. House finch
36. Canada goose
37. Red-winged blackbird (v)
38. European starling
39. Rock pigeon
40. Chipping sparrow (v)
41. House sparrow (v)
Gray catbird.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, Canada goose, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common raven, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, European starling, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mallard, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, northern parula, ovenbird, red-bellied woodpecker, red-winged blackbird, rock pigeon, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruby-throated hummingbird, ruffed grouse, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler
