Black-and-white warbler.
Busiest day of a busy week so far. But it didn’t rain, and the sun even poked through a few times, so I managed a good bicycle ride. At one point, pumping hard along a straightaway just torn up for road construction, I spied a great blue heron flapping slowly overhead.
Song sparrow.
Late to Beech Hill, but by happy coincidence Jack and I arrived about the same time the sun did. Plenty of people moving up and down. Plenty of mosquitos. [I worry about our bats.] And quite a few birds skulking about in the brush and understory. We stuck to the open trail but I did manage to sneak up on a black-and-white warbler singing its alternate, summer song. Early in the season, this bird will flit animatedly along trunks and branches, poking about the bark; these days, the singing bird sits still, usually preening—as this one was. While moving slowly toward it, I also managed close looks at a singing veery (mostly behind a tree trunk, darn it), a female yellowthroat, and a mewing catbird.
Returning, I snapped a photo of a song sparrow with a white butterfly in its beak, but it was a little overbright, alas.
(Earlier, at home, I found what appears to have been a gypsy moth larva—a remarkably fancy, almost hypnotizing caterpillar.)
Anyway. Nice to see a little sun.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:15 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
Caterpillar.
1. American robin*
2. Chipping sparrow** (v)
3. Ovenbird (v)
4. Chestnut-sided warbler**
5. Eastern towhee
6. American goldfinch (v)
7. Red-eyed vireo** (v)
8. Gray catbird**
9. Song sparrow**
10. Common yellowthroat**
11. Cedar waxwing
12. Yellow warbler (v)
13. Savannah sparrow
14. Black-capped chickadee
15. Veery
16. Herring gull*
17. House finch**
18. American crow* (v)
19. Black-and-white warbler
20. Downy woodpecker
21. Hairy woodpecker
22. Alder flycatcher (v)
23. Field sparrow (v)
24. Eastern phoebe** (v)
Elsewhere
25. Mourning dove
26. Rock pigeon
27. Great blue heron
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, field sparrow, gray catbirds, great blue heron, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, ong sparrow, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, rock pigeon, savannah sparrow, veery, yellow warbler
