Scarlet tanager.
Some splashes of sunlight appeared this afternoon, surprising me a little after three days of overcast. At the end of the day, as Jack and I made the short drive to Beech Hill, I saw a little blue sky up there. Nice.
Eastern wood-pewee.
It hadn’t rained much more, so the trails weren’t flowing. Birds stayed in hiding for the most part, but the familiar resident species were singing—including a vociferous black-and-white warbler and a couple of like-sounding redstarts. Heard the wings then the voice of a mourning dove, the late-season calls of alder flycatchers, and the cry of a flicker in the distance. The sun flashed in and out.
By the time we reached the summit, a large cloud had obscured the sun, but stripes of blue hung over the bay islands. Heard a tree swallow.
We hadn’t been up there long when it began to sprinkle, so we started back down. Heard the hermit thrush singing along the lower wooded trail along with a couple of vireos. A few minutes later, among the vireo calls, I heard a subtle series of notes I recognized as a tanager’s song. We stopped. It seemed to be approaching, so we stepped a little ways off the trail and I scanned the canopy. There it was, a splash of color in an otherwise green-green landscape.
Farther down, I heard a phoebe—also near the trail. When you look for a phoebe, first understand that they tend to be perching nearer than it sounds like. Then look about half-way up the tall trees (oaks, in this case) for a narrow dead snag. They like to perch at the end of such a snag, a perch they can return to after fluttering off after flies. That’s just where I spotted this one.
Summit trail.
Pretty muddy still down there, but at least I didn’t take a digger as I did yesterday. And I ended up with a lot more species on my list. Along with a little splash of color.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4:30 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (v)
2. Veery (v)
3. Common yellowthroat* (v)
4. Black-and-white warbler (v)
5. American redstart* (v)
6. Chestnut-sided warbler
7. Ovenbird (v)
8. American crow* (v)
9. Eastern towhee (v)
10. Mourning dove* (v)
11. Alder flycatcher (v)
12. American goldfinch (v)
13. Yellow warbler* (v)
14. Black-capped chickadee* (v)
15. Eastern phoebe
16. Song sparrow* (v)
17. Tree swallow (v)
18. Northern flicker (v)
19. Hermit thrush (v)
20. Scarlet tanager
21. Black-throated green warbler (v)
22. Eastern wood-pewee
Elsewhere
23. Northern cardinal
24. Herring gull
25. Tufted titmouse (v)
26. House finch (v)
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, scarlet tanager, song sparrow, tree swallow, veery, yellow warbler
