7 November 2026

Shrike and sparrow

Friday, November 9th, 2012
Leaf, Beech Hill, Rockport, Maine, 09 November 2012.

Leaf.

Well, today was a nice switch: sunny, relatively calm, relatively warm. I missed going out cycling by minutes—well, let’s just say I got so engrossed in a design project that I didn’t manage to tear myself away. Until mid-afternoon, that is, when it seemed like time to walk up a hill.

Rock pile, Beech Hill, Rockport, Maine, 09 November 2012.

Rock pile.

Nice to get up there early for a change. Chickadees and nuthatches along the first stretch, bluebirds’ voices down the southern slope. At the summit, I met a friendly fellow with whom I got to talking on our way back down. I also got to point out a solitary northern shrike perched in the tip of a tree down the eastern hillside.

Heard crows and jays and, back near the parking lot, managed to glimps a couple of juncos and a white-throated sparrow.

It’s such a lovely world from the heights of Beech Hill.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 2:15 p.m., I hiked the open trail.

1. Black-capped chickadee**
2. White-breasted nuthatch (v)
3. Eastern bluebird (v)
4. Northern shrike
5. American crow* (v)
6. Dark-eyed junco
7. White-throated sparrow
8. Blue jay (v)

Elsewhere

9. Herring gull

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere

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Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson



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