Morning sky.
The sun rose. I rose. The dog rose. Soon we were in the Rockville Street parking lot, climbing out of the pickup into the pleasantly cool air.
Savannah sparrow.
Didn’t hear much birdsong right off the bat—robin, chickadee, herring gull, ovenbird. (Note: I fully expect to hear the loud call of an ovenbird every day until late September.) But it wasn’t exactly quiet, either. Black flies were thick, though occasionally fanned away by a breeze. White-throated sparrows gave their crazy calls—upward, downward, and one bird whose end notes slipped and soared high at the end—and a partridge drummed.
Although first light brought some sun, by the time we reached the summit, a cloak of clouds had covered most of the sky. To the south and west looked to be deep blue rain clouds. The wind gusted.
Caterpillars.
The field sparrow was back singing after a day’s absence. No prairie warblers or black-throated blues today. No hawk of any kind during our hour or two on the hill. Plenty of singing black-and-white warblers, though—just none that’d pose. (Only savannah sparrows would pose today, as usual.) And I saw the slow, distant flapping of a great blue heron high above Chickawaukee Lake.
Just as we got back to the pickup, it began to rain a little. Some time after came a single thunder clap. Later in the day the sun reappeared briefly, but then great scary-looking clouds blew in, and I heard a radio alert about violent weather a couple hundred miles north. Nothing much here—although the threatening sky over Clam Cove kept us off the breakwater.
Tonight the sky is starry and the air tastes cool and clean. Just another flirty, fickle, passionate, flower-strewing spring day in Maine.
Beech Nut.
Beech Hill List
At 6 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. American robin
2. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
3. Ovenbird (voice)
4. Herring gull (voice)
5. Blue jay
6. Eastern towhee
7. White-throated sparrow (voice)
8. Mourning dove
9. Ruffed grouse (booming)
10. Black-and-white warbler
11. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
12. Chestnut-sided warbler (voice)
13. Common yellowthroat
14. Northern flicker (voice)
15. Savannah sparrow
16. Song sparrow
17. Tree swallow
18. Hermit thrush (voice)
19. Veery (voice)
20. Field sparrow (voice)
21. American goldfinch
22. Gray catbird (voice)
23. Eastern phoebe
24. Northern cardinal (voice)
25. Great blue heron
26. Nashville warbler (voice)
27. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
Elsewhere
American crow
European starling
Osprey
Weather over Clam Cove.
Tags: American goldfinch, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, chestnut-sided warbler, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, field sparrow, gray catbird, great blue heron, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, northern flicker, ovenbird, ruffed grouse, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, veery, white-throated sparrow
