Chestnut-sided warbler.
I was still in bed when I heard distant thunder. As I was making breakfast, a big isolated storm blew swiftly through—but most of it passed just to the north and south of here. A little thunder, a little rain. Within an hour or so, the summer sun angled brightly down on a wet, green landscape, and birds came out to sing.
Song sparrow.
Among them, a black-and-white warbler and a redstart. The redstart, in fact, hung around my place all day.
But I spent much of it inside, scrambling to get a few things done before dashing off for a quick bike ride. I’d checked the weather radar first, and another thundershower appeared headed this way, but there was time. If I hurried. So I hurried. Was nice. Cooler than the past couple days. Not a lot of wind. Felt like flying.
Not long after my return, a great, high haze obscured the western sky, turning things dim and spooky. Jack and I took off for a quick hike. Beech Hill seemed dark and eerily still. As we climbed I heard distant thunder away to the north. But birds were singing still—warblers, a hairy woodpecker (first woodpecker in a while), thrushes. At the summit, I spent a while admiring an interesting sky: an arc of blue to the east, and a high, yellow-gray haze covering the rest of it. Song sparrows, towhees, phoebes, and yellowthroats up there, but for the first time in many days I neither saw nor heard a Savannah sparrow. I wonder if the youngsters have fledged.
Within a half-hour after our return home, the sky had cleared again, the setting sun flooded the world with light, and the redstart sang in the little grove of poplars just out back.
Beech Nut.
And tonight, sure enough, another thunderstorm blew through, as forecast. Nature’s washing machine.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4:45 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. American robin* (v)
2. Veery (v)
3. Chestnut-sided warbler*
4. Ovenbird* (v)
5. Red-eyed vireo* (v)
6. Common yellowthroat*
7. Black-capped chickadee
8. Black-and-white warbler* (v)
9. Eastern towhee
10. Mourning dove
11. Hairy woodpecker (v)
12. Yellow warbler* (v)
13. Cedar waxwing*
14. Northern cardinal*
15. American crow*
16. Alder flycatcher (v)
17. Song sparrow*
18. Red-tailed hawk
19. Eastern phoebe
20. American goldfinch* (v)
21. Hermit thrush* (v)
22. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
23. American redstart* (v)
Elsewhere
24. House finch (v)
25. Herring gull
26. European starling
27. Blue jay (v)
28. House sparrow
29. Rock pigeon
30. Mallard
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, European starling, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mallard, mourning dove, northern cardinal, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, red-tailed hawk, rock pigeon, song sparrow, veery, yellow warbler
