Seven butterflies.
American ladies are beautiful, athletic, agile, maybe a little fickle, maybe a little headstrong. I’m referring, of course, to the butterflies.
American lady.
After work today, when Jack and I arrived at the wooded Beech Hill trail, the trees were oddly silent. An hour earlier, as I cycled up Route 1, a period of afternoon sun had given way to a large lump of clouds, and we walked under the overcast in stillness. I saw heard intermittent calls of the resident bird species but saw none—save an overflying loon—until we’d nearly reached the summit, when I spotted a solitary crow standing in a field. Coincidentally, that was about the time the big cloud cleared the sun, and with the increased warmth and brightness, birdsong increased.
Song sparrows, a hermit thrush, yellowthroats, an alder flycatcher. I heard—then spied—a tree swallow making little circles above the barrens. We circled Beech Nut, watched by the resident phoebe, and on the sunny side came upon the butterflies. There must’ve been a couple dozen of them swirling around in two or three tight swarms near the western wall of the hut, fluttering rapidly but with a purpose—and an impressive sense of direction. I’d seen this behavior in past years, but that didn’t make it less impressive. I pointed my camera in their general direction, focused as best I could, and fired off a bunch of shots, hoping for some kind of crazy luck. By damn, I got a couple photos.
Song sparrow.
Returning down the lower woods, I heard a black-throated green warbler singing loudly. Ovenbirds. A hermit thrush in the distance. And the lonesome song of the wood-pewee. Only the pewee distracted me from the magic of the flurry of butterflies I’d watched a little while before.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:15 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. American robin* (v)
2. Ovenbird (v)
3. Common loon
4. Chestnut-sided warbler* (v)
5. American redstart* (v)
6. Eastern towhee (v)
7. American crow*
8. Common yellowthroat (v)
9. Red-eyed vireo* (v)
10. Gray catbird (v)
11. Veery (v)
12. Alder flycatcher (v)
13. Yellow warbler (v)
14. Hermit thrush (v)
15. Song sparrow*
16. Black-throated green warbler (v)
17. Eastern phoebe
18. Tree swallow
19. American goldfinch
20. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
21. Black-and-white warbler (v)
22. White-breasted nuthatch (v)
Elsewhere
23. House finch
24. Herring gull
25. European starling (v)
26. Chipping sparrow (v)
27. Northern cardinal (v)
28. Black-capped chickadee (v)
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Dandelions.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common loon, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, European starling, gray catbirdv, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, northern cardinal, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, song sparrow, tree swallow, white-breasted nuthatch, yellow warbler
