Song sparrow.
Rain this morning, rain at midday, rain in afternoon. Light rain, heavy rain. Rain falling from the trees—the trees of Beech Hill, which (because of urgent busy-ness) Jack and I didn’t get to hiking until the end of this Friday workday.
I wore a hooded sweatshirt for the first time in a while. It was cool enough.
Happily, amid all the sogginess and sloshy going and drip, drip, drip from the canopy, birds were active. In part, perhaps, because it’s early summer, and fledglings are leaving the nest. Several times I heard the loud, sibilant voices of fledglings in the undergrowth and trailside bushes. Notably, I never did see the young bird—but I did see or hear the parent. A song sparrow on the misty-foggy open trail, a robin in the woods. Yellowthroats and veeries yelled at us. Also a chestnut-sided warbler.
Heard the secret peeps of an alder flycatcher.
And all of this on a day of incessant rain.
So blessed and grateful to be living my life on our tilted water planet.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (v)
2. Ovenbird (v)
3. Common yellowthroat**
4. Veery
5. Chestnut-sided warbler
6. Hairy woodpecker (v)
7. Hermit thrush (v)
8. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
9. Eastern towhee
10. Black-capped chickadee
11. American crow* (v)
12. American robin** (v)
13. Black-throated green warbler (v)
14. Black-throated blue warbler (v)
15. American goldfinch (v)
16. Gray catbird
17. Purple finch (v)
17. Savannah sparrow
18. Yellow warbler (v)
19. Song sparrow**
20. Alder flycatcher (v)
21. Field sparrow (v)
22. Mourning dove* (v)
23. American redstart (v)
24. Cedar waxwing
25. Black-and-white warbler (v)
26. Northern flicker (v)
Elsewhere
27. Herring gull
28. Common grackle
29. Northern cardinal (v)
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 blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common grackle, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, field sparrow, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, ovenbird, purple finch, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, veery, yellow warbler
