Yellow Warbler.
Solitude can teach you things
you’ll never learn in any other way,
such as the gentle peeps an Alder Flycatcher will make
around its favored nesting site
or where to look for hummingbirds
at just this time of year.
Ghost of catbird.
Spared of human influence,
your senses can be free to open wide
enough to learn the Earth—its sound, its feel, its shadow worlds,
its subtle change from day to day,
the hour of owl, the hour of deer.
You’ll read the minds of crows.
Yet you bring your dog along,
because a dog instinctively knows how
to tune distractions out—you wait for him, he waits for you,
together you explore the wood
as heavy fog drips from new leaves.
You’re not really alone.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:15 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American Crow*
2. Chestnut-sided Warbler (v)
3. Ovenbird** (v)
4. American Redstart
5. Black-and-white Warbler (v)
6. Red-eyed Vireo (v)
7. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
8. Veery
9. Rose-breasted Grosbeak (v)
10. Eastern Towhee
11. Common Yellowthroat
12. Alder Flycatcher
13. Gray Catbird*
14. American Goldfinch**
15. Field Sparrow
16. Song Sparrow
17. Yellow Warbler
18. Cedar Waxwing (v)
19. Tree Swallow
20. Chipping Sparrow
21. Savannah Sparrow (v)
22. Northern Cardinal* (v)
23. Tufted Titmouse** (v)
24. Black-throated Green Warbler** (v)
25. Eastern Wood-pewee (v)
Elsewhere
26. American Robin
27. White-breasted Nuthatch (v)
28. Pileated Woodpecker (v)
29. Osprey (v)
30. Common Grackle
31. Herring Gull
32. Common Loon (v)
33. Common Nighthawk†
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common grackle, common loon, common nighthawk, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, field sparrow, gray catbird, herring gull, northern cardinal, osprey, ovenbird, pileated woodpecker, red-eyed vireo, rose-breasted grosbeak, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, yellow warbler
