Snow Bunting.
Today was clean-up day. No power all night, no power this morning. Had to eat Grape-Nuts instead of my usual egg for a change, and I only had a half cup of cold leftover coffee. Sure, I could’ve gone somewhere for coffee—but I had work to do.
Chipping Sparrow.
And not my usual job, what with electrical outages all over the county, trees down everywhere. It was a snow day. A day of physical labor.
Starting with the shoveling of the deck stairs, which I’d almost slid down last night a time or two because of the three or four inches of icy wet snow on ’em. (Found out it’s a little more difficult to shovel icy wet snow that’s got a layer of leaves under it than just regular icy wet snow.) While I was out there, the sun emerged, and the temperature began to rise above freezing, and I grabbed the pruning shears and started to dismember all the fallen limbs out there.
After I’d worked up a good sweat, I stepped inside to find the power had come back on. Also, my bandwidth was working. Still, a fourteen- or fifteen-hour outage is the longest such episode I’ve experienced here on busy Route 1.
Grabbed the hand saw and got back to work and worked for two or three straight hours. Managed to remove all the branches that had landed on the roof and the deck and the deck stair, carve them up into manageable lengths, and toss them in a big pile out by the parking lot. As a reward, I had my breakfast egg for lunch.
Then I shoveled the deck, which took a while. And it seems Nature is a goddess with a mischievous sense of humor, because great, softball-sized lumps of snow-ice began falling from high in the trees above me, pelting my head and shoulders.
Shadow.
Finally, Jack made our way up to Beech Hill.
Deep snow up there. Drifts. Sun and a breeze and truly a lovely afternoon. Also, lots of birds: Snow Buntings, juncos, yellow-rumps, a Hermit Thrush—buncha stuff. Big ol’ vee of Canada Geese. But the most startling sighting was the American Woodcock we flushed down near the (inaccessible) parking lot.
Not a bad day for a snow day.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 1:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Dark-eyed Junco
2. American Crow* (v)
3. Hairy Woodpecker
4. Tufted Titmouse* (v)
5. Black-capped Chickadee** (v)
6. American Woodcock
7. Northern Flicker (v)
8. Yellow-rumped Warbler
9. Hermit Thrush
10. Savannah Sparrow
11. Herring Gull*
12. Snow Bunting
13. Canada Goose
14. Golden-crowned Kinglet (v)
15. White-breasted Nuthatch (v)
Elsewhere
16. Chipping Sparrow
17. American Robin
18. European Starling
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American crow, American robin, American woodcock, black-capped chickadee, Canada goose, chipping sparrow, dark-eyed junco, European starling, golden-crowned kinglet, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, northern flicker, savannah sparrow, snow bunting, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, yellow-rumped warbler
