Common yellowthroat.
And for my 1000th post… Nah, I got nothing. Just another lovely Maine summer day. Well, with more wind. In fact, today resembled yesterday, wind-wise—except the southerly wind might even have been stronger. Made for a memorable bike ride.
Cedar waxwing.
Work-wise, it was a Monday. Didn’t get up to Beech Hill with Jack until after 5. No one else on the trail or summit—not even many birds. That is, many obvious birds. Plus, there was that rushing, drowning sound of the wind in the leafy trees. I did hear vireos (duh). Startled a couple yellowthroats along the trail (odd that I neither saw nor heard any yesterday). Heard the seemingly ever-present tseeee! of waxwings and their youngsters.
Then, about half-way up the trail, coming through a low tangle of many kinds of ripening berries, I heard some sharp, rapid-fire chips coming from somewhere in front of us. We stopped. Next came some louder, more pointed chip-notes right next to us on the trail. I looked up in time to see an angry adult male black-throated blue warbler. He was right there—but also very active. I.e., I didn’t get a photo. When the male vanished into the brush (still chipping), I heard more pointed chips behind us, on the other side of the trail, turned, and caught sight of an adult female, no doubt his mate. She, too, was pissed. And then a catbird popped up out of nowhere, wondering what all the fuss was about.
The rapid-fire chips persisted also, I presume from their fledglings, but before I knew it, the lot of them had moved down the hill and out of view. We stuck around listening for a while (true, I’m not sure Jack was actually listening). They did not reappear.
Summer slope.
No sparrows at the summit again, although I did somehow hear (and actually see) two peeping alder flycatchers amid all the whispering, swaying foliage. The tall bronze grass of the hillsides swayed also, and the roof of Beech Nut looks a little parched from the dry spell.
Coming back down the lower trail, in the hermit thrushy area, I heard a hermit thrush. Then the first goldfinch of the day flew over. Good—an even dozen species.
And then—surprise!—I heard an eastern wood-pewee.
For the second straight day, thirteen.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:15 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo* (v)
2. Common yellowthroat
3. Black-capped chickadee (v)
4. Cedar waxwing*
5. American crow* (v)
6. Eastern towhee (v)
7. Black-throated blue warbler
8. Gray catbird
9. Alder flycatcher
10. American robin*
11. Hermit thrush (v)
12. American goldfinch* (v)
13. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
Elsewhere
14. Northern cardinal (v)
15. House finch (v)
16. Herring gull
17. Rock pigeon
18. Mourning dove
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, northern cardinal, red-eyed vireo, rock pigeon
