Common yellowthroat.
I glimpsed the sun a few times out my office windows today—but only a few. A small rain shower came and went. And the work phone rang several times. Unusual. But it made for another late start up Beech Hill for Jack and me.
Eastern towhee.
Saw plenty of blue sky on our way there, but as soon as we started up the trail—wouldn’t you know it?—it began to rain. Not a heavy rain, but a light, steady rain that drowned out all sound but the rush and patter and spatter. Before it got steady, I did hear an ovenbird and a vireo and a robin, but then I heard nothing but rain until we’d gone about half-way up the hill.
Then I heard the alarm notes of a towhee not far off to our right. We stopped. After a few moments, I spotted both a female and a male. The male held some grub in its beak and sat there eyeing me. After I’d snapped off a few photos, I realized the rain was letting up. I also heard a chestnut-sided warbler singing very near us. We proceeded a few steps as I looked for the warbler in the thick foliage, then stopped again. At that moment, I caught sight of a dark, moving shape—a male ruby-throated hummingbird browsing amid a patch of blooming blackberries. I tried for photos of the hummer, but my camera would not agree. I didn’t mind much when I realized the rain had stopped and birds had begun to sing.
Redstart, mourning dove, crow, veery. As we climbed higher, I heard the peep notes of an alder flycatcher. Heard the variant call of a black-and-white warbler. Heard a singing song sparrow. Seems that, after the rain, birds really do venture out to sing.
Alder flycatcher.
By the time we’d reached the summit, the sun had emerged, and the hillsides spread bright and green below us. To the west, I heard a titmouse and a field sparrow. In the tangles toward the east, I heard the chuck! of a yellowthroat. Heard yellow and Nashville warblers. Heard a singing savannah sparrow—then caught sight of the bird on one corner of Beech Nut’s sod roof. (I know they’re nesting up there.) I didn’t see the resident phoebe, but I did hear its peep!
Down in the lower woods, I heard the songs of two duelling hermit thrushes and the poignant calls of two pewees. The last bird on my list today, oddly: a chickadee.
The forecast is calling for a chance of rain each day for days and days. But this afternoon’s brief, birdy blaze of sun should keep me for a while.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:15 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Ovenbird* (v)
2. Red-eyed vireo (v)
3. American robin (v)
4. Common yellowthroat
5. Eastern towhee
6. Chestnut-sided warbler (v)
7. Ruby-throated hummingbird
8. American redstart (v)
9. Mourning dove* (v)
10. American crow* (v)
11. Veery (v)
13. Alder flycatcher
14. Black-and-white warbler (v)
15. Song sparrow*
16. Yellow warbler (v)
17. Nashville warbler (v)
18. Eastern phoebe (v)
19. Savannah sparrow
20. Tufted titmouse* (v)
21. Field sparrow (v)
23. Hermit thrush (v)
24. Eastern phoebe
25. Black-capped chickadee* (v)
Elsewhere
26. Northern cardinal
27. House sparrow
28. Herring gull
29. Mallard
30. House finch (v)
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tiger swallowtail.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, chestnut-sided warbler, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, field sparrow, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mallard, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, ruby-throated hummingbird, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, yellow warbler
