Common yellowthroat.
So, last night I caught my sandal while climbing the back stairs and pitched forward. I managed to catch myself but, in doing so, pulled a muscle in my upper right arm. This cast something of a pall on my day today.
Eastern towhee.
It kind of hurt to ride my bike, but I rode anyway. A good, fast, sweaty ride under the hot summer sun. Waxwings and goldfinches and crows around.
It also kind of hurt to take photos, but I took a few on my hike with Jack late in the day. We took the wooded trail again (despite my leeriness of deer ticks in their invisible stage), where the birds—perhaps because of the heat—were laying low. We’d walked a few hundred yards, in fact, before I added the first species to today’s list, when we came upon a little gang of chattering black-capped chickadees.
Then I heard waxwings. Then I saw a towhee. Then I heard goldfinches. Then I ate a few high-bush blueberries.
I had to pish! for yellowthroats, but there they were. Finally, at the summit, came the voices of sparrows: singing fields and songs and chipping Savannahs. Then a pair of mourning doves flew over. Perhaps because of the heat, we were the only ones up there.
Returning, I saw a flitting alder flycatcher. Farther down, in the lower woods, I heard the day’s first vireos. Then Jack’s ears perked up, and I knew to scan the woods ahead of us, where—sure enough—a couple of turkeys passed. Heard no hermit thrush today. Came across no catbirds. No hint of robins.
Viceroy.
But I did hear a pewee. And the chip notes of ovenbirds. And, finally, the distant caws of crows.
If only I weren’t so lopsidedly right-handed, because it even kind of hurt to drink a beer. But I drank one anyway.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Black-capped chickadee
2. Cedar waxwing*
3. Eastern towhee
4. American goldfinch* (v)
5. Common yellowthroat
6. Song sparrow
7. Field sparrow (v)
8. Savannah sparrow (v)
9. Mourning dove*
10. Alder flycatcher
11. Red-eyed vireo
12. Wild turkey
13. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
14. Ovenbird (v)
15. American crow* (v)
Elsewhere
16. Northern cardinal (v)
17. Herring gull
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, field sparrow, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, wild turkey
