Blueberry barren.
The big wind a couple nights ago really did strip most trees bare around here. I noticed this while hiking Beech Hill with Jack at the end of today—a partly rainy, party hazy one. One shower this morning pelted down like a Great Plains storm or something. Merely damp when we got to hiking, though. And still oddly warm.
Young oak.
I noticed, specifically, when I got a look at a particularly fine oak tree on the western slope as we ascended—a tree whose crown was cloaked in yellow-orange just last weekend. Today it had a measly dozen or two leaves clinging to the bare branches up there.
Birds still about, but I only noticed because I have ears. The one species I actually caught sight of today was a yellow-rumped warbler flitting about in a copse of young trees down on the southern hillside. There’s not as much cover as there used to be.
Still a nice hike, though. Just us and a couple other hikers. And one dog.
And a few remnant bronze and russet leaves.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4:15 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American crow* (v)
2. Black-capped chickadee** (v)
3. Hairy woodpecker (v)
4. Yellow-rumped warbler
5. American robin (v)
6. Northern flicker (v)
7. Blue jay (v)
8. Dark-eyed junco (v)
9. Golden-crowned kinglet (v)
Elsewhere
10. Herring gull
11. Mallard
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American crow, American robin, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, dark-eyed junco, golden-crowned kinglet, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, mallard, northern flicker, yellow-rumped warbler
