Common yellowthroat.
To bed late again, but up early enough for some decent bird time. Another wandering turkey, a rose-breasted grosbeak, a hummingbird in my ear, the lovely call of the wood-pewee. But by the time Jack and I reached the (still) mostly sunny upper fields, I’d slowed our pace in case the yellow-breasted chat had hung around. And it had. Like yesterday, I heard it first—then spotted its bright yellow breast as it perched for a moment emitting its crazy collection of intermittent tweets and chatters.
Eastern wood-pewee.
No great photo today, though.
At the summit I met a couple of brothers out for a sunny hike to a summit with a view, and we talked a while. As we did, a turkey vulture and a broad-wing soared by, a Savannah sparrow called, and a pair of chimney swifts chittered overhead. I told the story of the chat, of course.
I mentioned it also to my friend Kristen, whom I figured might want to track it down. Sure enough, in afternoon, after the sky had gone gray and the air had cooled, we met on the hill and hurried to the overgrowth where the chat had been hanging around. But we couldn’t find it, alas. (I did add a couple birds to today’s list, at least.)
One last note about today’s Beech Hill hike: I’m crazy about the little eastern wood-pewee. A plain little forest bird, but one that will perch dependably on a miniature snag and sing it’s slow, leisurely, pensive, happy-sad song. I paused to listen to three of them today.
Beech Hill List
At 8 a.m., I hiked the wooded trail; at 2:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Red-eyed vireo**
2. Ovenbird** (v)
3. Wild turkey
4. Eastern wood-pewee
5. Chestnut-sided warbler**
6. American robin**
7. American redstart**
8. American crow*
9. Rose-breasted grosbeak (v)
10. Black-and-white warbler (v)
11. Black-capped chickadee (v)
12. Yellow warbler**
13. Alder flycatcher (v)
14. Eastern towhee
15. Ruby-throated hummingbird (humming)
16. Northern flicker
17. Common yellowthroat**
18. Yellow-breasted chat
19. Tree swallow
20. Gray catbird
21. Song sparrow**
22. American goldfinch (v)
23. Eastern phoebe**
24. Turkey vulture
25. Broad-winged hawk
26. Chimney swift
27. Savannah sparrow (v)
28. Herring gull*
29. Chipping sparrow**
30. Black-throated green warbler (v)
31. Hermit thrush (v)
32. Common raven (v)
33. Hairy woodpecker (v)
34. Purple finch (v)
35. Blue jay (v)
Elsewhere
36. House finch
37. Mourning dove
38. Common grackle
39. Tufted titmouse
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, broad-winged hawk, chestnut-sided warbler, chimney swift, chipping sparrow, common grackle, common raven, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, northern flicker, ovenbird, purple finch, red-eyed vireo, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruby-throated hummingbird, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture, wild turkey, yellow warbler, yellow-breasted chat
