Yellow-breasted chat.
One cool thing about birding is you never know what you’re going to get. Every now and then you even get a lifer.
Yellow-breasted chat.
Stayed up late playing my Fender for a change, so I slept in, took my time making breakfast, puttered around, worked some. Was overcast early, but it cleared up and got sort of warm and breezy, so I grabbed Jack and we took our hike in high afternoon. Mixed it up a bit, too, since a couple other folks pulled in just after us: we took the lower trail up for a change, so my list is a little backwards. Ovenbirds, vireos, pewees, hermit thrush—even a solitary turkey waddling quickly up the trail far ahead of us.
Coming around the usually fruitful margin between the woods and fields, where yellowthroats and catbirds were calling, I heard something a little off. More than a little off, really—I even thought the people I saw way up on the trail ahead of us might’ve been birders playing some kind of song. But it wasn’t the people, there was an unfamiliar bird in there. Solo chips and whistles, followed by a rapid, insistent pish-pish-pish-pish-pish! For some reason the idea of a yellow-breasted chat came to mind.
Maybe it came to mind because I knew a little about the bird, had heard recordings of its call, knew it liked brushy habitat of the sort I was looking at on a sunny afternoon. Probably it had to do with the fact that I’d never seen one before. At least twice I’d missed fall chat sightings out on Monhegan. Once I ditched a Christmas Count right before a chat showed up. Nope, never seen one. So we left the trail and approached the large bush the bird was calling from. I even thought I saw something flitting around in there. But then it went silent. For many minutes. Dang.
Northern green frog.
Finally, I gave up and we continued our ascent—where we encountered a green frog sitting in the middle of the trail—and walked over the hill and down the other side, where a broad-winged hawk was circling and calling squeee!
But I couldn’t shake the idea of the mystery bird, so on our return, approaching the section of trail where I’d heard it about a half hour before, we slowed. And it occurred to me to try pishing in its general direction—assuming it was still there. Sure enough, the pishing got a squawk or two, and some chatters. It had only moved a few bushes away.
I figured it had to be a chat, but I didn’t trust my memory of its call. Then I realized I had an app of the songs of warblers on my iPhone. I thought maybe there was a chat on there. And there was. So I played it’s song, and—yeah, no question that was a chat out there.
And then, apparently reacting to the warbler app, the bird burst out of the bush and flew toward us and over us and lit in a bush behind us, lit by the afternoon sun. I got photos, I got videos. And I got a nice buzz from the whole experience. So nice, in fact, that I accosted a couple hiking toward us and regaled them with the tale of my first-ever yellow-breasted chat. They even seemed interested.
After the couple continued on up toward Beech Nut, we headed around the corner—and there was the chat again. Got my best video (this one) then.
The frog was cool. I liked spotting a hermit thrush and a couple of pewees off in the green wood. But you don’t get a lifer every day.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 2 p.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo**
2. Black-throated green warbler (v)
3. Ovenbird** (v)
4. Chestnut-sided warbler (v)
5. American robin**
6. American goldfinch (v)
7. Eastern towhee
8. American crow*
9. American redstart**
10. Hermit thrush
11. Veery (v)
12. Black-and-white warbler (v)
13. Eastern wood-pewee
14. Common raven (v)
15. Wild turkey
16. Northern flicker
17. Scarlet tanager (v)
18. Common yellowthroat**
19. Gray catbird**
20. Yellow warbler
21. Alder flycatcher (v)
22. Yellow-breasted chat†‡
23. Black-capped chickadee
24. Song sparrow**
25. Broad-winged hawk
26. Cedar waxwing (v)
27. Eastern phoebe**
28. Savannah sparrow (v)
29. Field sparrow (v)
30. Mourning dove* (v)
Elsewhere
31. House finch (v)
30. Tufted titmouse (v)
31. Northern cardinal (v)
32. Herring gull
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird
‡Lifer
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, broad-winged hawk, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common raven, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, field sparrow, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, scarlet tanager, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, wild turkey, yellow warbler, yellow-breasted chat
