Eastern Bluebird.
A bright, nippy November day. Ice crisps in the shadows, a chickadee in the shrubbery. Jack and I got out in early afternoon.
Bluebirds two.
The air ruffling the weed stalks at Beech Hill was gusty and cold. Very soon into our hike, I spotted a bluebird. Then another. Several of them by the road. They flew as we got near, headed over the field and paused to poke about in the dirt and stubble. They kept ahead of us as we climbed the trail, flitting from post to birch limb to twig to weed stalk. I counted nine in all.
A hairy woodpecker fluttered up the hill with them, trunk to trunk. I heard the call of a flicker.
At the summit were chickadees and a solitary Yellow-rumped Warbler. I pulled my bare hands into the sleeves of my sweatshirt against the cold.
Descending, we met a some people coming up, a couple of moms, I’m guessing, followed by three kids. One of the youngsters, a boy of about thirteen or fourteen, was wearing a T-shirt with its shirttail out. He didn’t look cold at all.
Toward the end of our walk, I spied a Pileated Woodpecker loping through the air above the nearly naked trees. Three woodpeckers today.
Hairy Woodpecker.
And nine bluebirds.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 1:15 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Black-capped Chickadee**
2. Eastern Bluebird
3. Hairy Woodpecker
4. Northern Flicker (v)
5. American Crow*
6. Yellow-rumped Warbler
7. Pileated Woodpecker
Elsewhere
8. Herring Gull
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, eastern bluebird, hairy woodpecker, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, yellow-rumped warbler
