Turkey vulture, distant.
OK, so we had a fragment of sun this morning. Never mind that it was freakin’ cold—temps in the 30s, rising slowly as maple sap into the low- to mid-40s. Suddenly, the hemisphere decided to behave as it’s supposed to, never mind the long, green grass in need of mowing weeks ahead of time. There be the cardinal, the song sparrow, the house finch, a mourning dove, a chickadee, a titmouse, a crow.
Turkey vulture, near.
By the time dog and I headed for Beech Hill, the sky had gone pretty much totally overcast. Thankfully, there wasn’t a lot of wind. I had hopes—though I should never have, because they usually don’t pan out. These didn’t. I spotted not a single bird until we neared the summit, when I saw a solitary turkey vulture soaring out in the direction of the bay. But as we began our descent, I heard a familiar note and said to my good dog, “Wait.” A towhee. Unmistakable. First of year. I also heard robins and chickadees and herring gulls and a flicker and a phoebe and a song sparrow and a crow. But the vulture was the only bird I saw at Beech Hill today. The only bird.
As we drove away up Beech Hill Road, we topped a rise and I saw a turkey on the blacktop. But wait, it wasn’t a turkey—it was a turkey vulture. It had been scavanging a… chicken. Or what surely looked like about two-thirds of a coppery colored domestic fowl. It flapped up into an overhanging tree as I drove past. So I turned around in a driveway, pulled up, and snapped a couple photos. Ugly sumbitches, turkey vultures. But they sure do look a lot like turkeys.
Weskeag Marsh.
Soon after, for the heck of it, we swung by Weskeag Marsh. I’d heard of kingfishers and snowy egrets and all kinds of inspiring migrants. Today? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Well, not completely zip, I guess—one distant great blue heron, a couple mallards, some black ducks, a few teals, some gulls. I saw a little gang of crows flap over. But I heard not a single killdeer.
On the drive back, though, I counted rock pigeons, a couple blue jays, and a kestrel on a power line.
At least I heard that towhee.
Today’s List
American crow
Song sparrow
Eastern phoebe
Northern cardinal
Downy woodpecker
Black-capped chickadee
Tufted titmouse
House finch
Mourning dove
Turkey vulture
Eastern towhee
Blue jay
Rock pigeon
Great blue heron
Black duck
Mallard
Green-winged teal
American kestrel
From Beech Hill, looking west-northwest.
Tags: American crow, American kestrel, black duck, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, great blue heron, green-winged teal, house finch, mallard, mourning dove, northern cardinal, rock pigeon, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture
