Chestnut-sided warbler.
A fun morning on the hill. The day started as it always does this time of year: I awake from some crazy dream and realize the time, and within ten minutes, somehow, Jack and I are en route. Five minutes later, we’re stumbling out of the pickup at the trailhead. Some rain had fallen overnight, and there was a hint of fog in the air. One notable difference this morning is that we encountered several vehicles already parked in the lot. Then I remembered my friend Kristen had mentioned leading a bird walk this week.
Broad-winged hawk.
We crept along the trail to the songs of a half-dozen warblers, a vireo, a thrush, a phoebe. Then we came upon the birding party, just as they were making the turn to the upper trail. We decided to take the lower trail first for a change, so as not to interfere. It was a nice change.
First, we heard a few shoreside birds, like a titmouse, herring gulls, a cardinal, a flicker and a downy woodpecker. Some mallards flew over, and I heard the voice of a raven. More vireos down there in the taller trees. A black-throated blue warbler (they seem to prefer that part of the hill). As we snuck up toward the loop where I’d seen the pair of owls yesterday—I thought I might see one again—a large bird rose silently from just where the owls had been and perched on a low limb. But it wasn’t an owl. It was a young broad-winged hawk. And it posed for pictures.
Unexpectedly, despite the fog, the summit proved fruitful. A number of warblers moving through had decided to stop to dine in the spruce grove. I saw my first Canada warbler of the year, heard ovenbirds up there (unusual), saw a chestnut-sided seemingly intent on establishing its territory, and snapped a few photos of a puzzling bird flitting about in the spruce bows. (It took my study of these photos later to ID it as a blackpoll.) A hummingbird buzzed by. A least flycatcher called from the edge of the woods just below. And above it all, a robin held forth from the very top of a spruce. The robin might have been the most thrilling bird of all to me, for one reason: a part of its call was a perfect waterfall of descending notes that sounded like a harp or zither. (I tried to record it on a video but am not yet sure I was successful.) A truly jaw-dropping sound.
American redstart.
Quickly down the open trail we went, and I heard several other expected species—Nashville warbler, yellow warbler, field sparrow—and spotted a savannah sparrow. Most surprisingly, on our return, just at the Beech Hill Road gate, I caught the call of a scarlet tanager in the trees. Alas, I never caught sight of the bird.
Not a lot else to report until we reached the parking lot again, when I paused to see if I could grab a photo of a calling red-eyed vireo, and a white-breasted nuthatch fluttered up onto a branch directly in front of us and peered around accusingly. It was a perfect pose—and would’ve been a perfect photo, had my camera not gone to sleep.
Oh, well. Who cares?
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Common yellowthroat
2. Hermit thrush* (v)
3. Ovenbird*
4. Chestnut-sided warbler
5. Black-throated green warbler*
6. Black-and-white warbler
7. Eastern phoebe
8. Northern parula
9. Red-eyed vireo
10. Tufted titmouse* (v)
11. Herring gull* (v)
12. Rose-breasted grosbeak (v)
13. Veery (v)
14. American crow*
15. Black-capped chickadee*
16. Eastern towhee
17. Northern cardinal (v)
18. Mallard (v)
19. American goldfinch*
20. Downy woodpecker (v)
21. Northern flicker (v)
22. Song sparrow*
23. Common raven (v)
24. American robin*
25. Black-throated blue warbler (v)
26. White-throated sparrow (v)
27. Broad-winged hawk
28. American redstart
29. Canada warbler‡
30. Least flycatcher (v)
31. Ruby-throated hummingbird
32. Blackpoll warbler‡
33. Savannah sparrow
34. Blue jay
35. Nashville warbler (v)
36. Field sparrow (v)
37. Yellow warbler (v)
38. White-breasted nuthatch
39. Scarlet tanager (v)
40. Alder flycatcher (v)
41. Gray catbird (v)
42. Mourning dove* (v)
Elsewhere
43. House finch
44. Rock pigeon
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
‡First-of-year bird
Canada warbler.
