Savannah sparrow.
Sometimes you’ve got to name a blog entry after a bird you’ve seen that day. Today is was a buzzy little grassland sparrow, the first of many of its species I’ll see on Beech Hill this year. I heard its distinctive song—ending in a sharp little hiccup—while climbing the steep part of the trail and soon after spotted the little guy laying claim to the territory of the southern slope. It was a thrill.
Maple blossoms.
(Today was Queen Elizabeth’s birthday. And my mother’s. Ma would’ve been the same age as the queen—84—had she not died of Parkinson’s Disease nearly four years ago. She should still be around. I would’ve liked to tell her about the first-of-year savannah sparrow singing on her birthday.)
The Beech Hill walk was a warm and lovely one. More blue than cloud, temperatures well into the 60s (F). A bit of a breeze from the southwest. No hawks again today, but a number of phoebes, song sparrows, goldfinches. One of the phoebes was hanging around the kiosk at the trailhead, where there’s been a nest most of the past few years, and a pair had apparently set up housekeeping in the eaves of the hut, Beech Nut, at the top of the hill. I heard a mourning dove, crows, a robin. I saw a raven.
Savannah sparrow.
I forgot to mention yesterday that dog and I heard (and saw) four or five mice or voles along the grassy trails. Jack alerted me to the first one; thereafter, their presence was pretty obvious as they scrabbled about in the dried vegetation, dashing out of and back under cover. No wonder the kestrels and harriers have been so active.
We walked nearly all the way down the wooded trail today. I stopped intermittently for tick checks. Sure enough, I pulled four of five off the dog, and two or three off my jeans legs. (Lyme disease ain’t no joke, and it pays to pay attention.) Assorted flies buzzed about us, as well, and with them the promise of wood-warblers. We came upon a nesting pair of chickadees. At one point in a brushy part of the trail, I heard a pecurliar call and stopped to listen: tseeee, ticky-ticky-tee. A small bird, flying over, northbound. I have no idea what it was.
Black-capped chickadee.
On our return home, I did a final tick check, pulled another one of the dog—and by God found one buried in my neck just above my collarbone. First tick attached to me in twenty or thirty years. Deer tick, I’m pretty sure. Damn. At least it wasn’t engorged and therefore I’m likely spared infection.
Later in the day, about the time I was thinking about a bike ride, the skies opened up and it rained pretty hard. The rain lasted all of about five minutes, and then the sun reemerged. But by then I had a meeting in town.
Thinking back to this morning, I recall awakening early to the sound of a cardinal—and a gobbling wild turkey out back, not very far up the hill.
Today’s List
Northern cardinal
Wild turkey
American crow
Song sparrow
Chipping sparrow
House sparrow
Eastern phoebe
House finch
Herring gull
American goldfinch
Savannah sparrow
Common raven
Mourning dove
Black-capped chickadee
Trout lilies.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, chipping sparrow, common raven, eastern phoebe, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, wild turkey
