
I must confess I didn’t expect to end up with many birds on my list today, considering it was snowing and blowing pretty good. How surprisingly wrong I was.
Two cardinals singing at each other, a singing Song Sparrow, crow and gull and robin. I also spied a female kestrel perched in a trailside birch and watched her for a while, as snow swirled around us. Lovely.
Most interesting, though, might’ve been the Killdeer that flew over. Heard it first, saw it, got a proof-of-species pic. Never spied a Killdeer up there before—and there it was, on the wing during an April snow.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 9:45 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Northern Cardinal**
2. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
3. Song Sparrow** (v)
4. American Crow*
5. American Robin*
6. Herring Gull* (v)
7. American Kestrel
8. Killdeer†‡
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird
‡First-on-hill bird
Tags: American crow, American kestrel, American robin, black-capped chickadee, herring gull, killdeer, northern cardinal, song sparrow

