Nashville Warbler.
OK, this was a warm one. First truly warm day of spring. Because I had a ton of work to do—indoor work, outdoor work—and a quick errand to run, the timing of my Beech Hill hike turned out bad for birding. Or so I thought. Mid-afternoon, warm sun beating down, high wind. Plus, a first mow was happening in the field down toward the road.
Black-and-white Warbler.
I did hear and see a few of the usual suspects down toward the parking lot and heard towhees calling here and there. Still a few yellow-rumps. And from the summit, I happened to hear the thin, distant whistle of a Broad-winged Hawk and had to scan the sky for twenty or thirty seconds before I spotted it, circling, headed slowly north—and then it veered into a fast northward race and vanished off above the canopy.
Phoebe up at the hut. Herring gulls in the distance. I did spot a raven and crow, but you couldn’t hear much birdsong on account of the wind.
Ended up chatting with some couples at the top while a mom and kiddo flew a kite. (The wind was just about perfect for a kite.) Then, back at the parking lot, as fate would have it, the best birding happened.
First I heard a titmouse. Then a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Then I spotted the nuthatch. Then a couple of towhees began to get animated—territorial fight? mating ritual? I think it might’ve been the latter, since I only saw one male, but I’ve never encountered such towhee sounds and wild displays. It’s just that time of year.
Six-spotted Tiger Beetle.
And then I hear a little warbler chip down in the copse of trees. The warbler I saw was a yellow-rump, but this was not his chip. And then I saw the Black-and-white Warbler poking about in a birch. The rump chased it off, and I moseyed over to where I thought it’d gone and met someone training binoculars on some bird. She happened to be a novice birder (immediately I felt a pang of envy at all the fun she’d be having), and what she’d seen was a Nashville Warbler. And she’d also seen the black-and-white. Both first-of-year birds for me.
Anyway, that was fun. Turns out my timing was good after all.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 3:45 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Black-capped Chickadee**
2. American Goldfinch**
3. Eastern Phoebe
4. Common Raven
5. American Crow*
6. Yellow-rumped Warbler
7. Eastern Towhee
8. Broad-winged Hawk
9. Herring Gull*
10. Song Sparrow (v)
11. Tufted Titmouse** (v)
12. Red-breasted Nuthatch
13. Black-and-white Warbler†
14. Turkey Vulture
15. Nashville Warbler†
Elsewhere
16. Northern Cardinal (v)
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird
Open book.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, broad-winged hawk, common raven, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, herring gull, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, red-breasted nuthatch, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture, yellow-rumped warbler
