Hairy Woodpecker.
It rained all night and into this morning. Then drizzle—then things started to dry up. Well, at least the flat surfaces with ample drainage. The bumpy wooded hills and trails of Beech Hill were flowing with runoff and snowmelt. Muddy were the trails when Jack and I got there in early afternoon.
Bay View.
The sky, though, had breaks in the clouds, and you could see blue, and the sun shone now and then, and great swaths of sunlight lit the fields and the waters of Penobscot Bay.
I had thought about just hiking the open trail today, but I got to thinking about the pair of woodcocks we spooked yesterday and decided to head down into the muddy, gurgling bottomlands and see if I could find one. We crept slowly along, our steps splurping into the spongy earth, but I couldn’t find a woodcock, so we sped up, and near the little pond, we flushed one.
At twilight, I stood for a while on the back deck and listened to multiple woodcocks peent! and flight-sing. One of my favorite sounds—no, experiences—in the world.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 1:30 p.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American Crow*
2. American Robin*
3. Song Sparrow** (v)
4. Dark-eyed Junco (v)
5. Downy Woodpecker (v)
6. Black-capped Chickadee*
7. White-breasted Nuthatch (v)
8. Pileated Woodpecker (v)
9. Northern Flicker (v)
10. Northern Cardinal** (v)
11. Herring Gull* (v)
12. House Finch** (v)
13. Hairy Woodpecker
14. American Woodcock**
15. Tufted Titmouse** (v)
Elsewhere
16. Mallard
17. Rock Pigeon
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American crow, American robin, American woodcock, black-capped chickadee, dark-eyed junco, downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house finch, mallard, northern cardinal, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, rock pigeon, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch
