American robin (nesting female).
I almost didn’t head for Beech Hill this morning. I would’ve missed a lot.
The day dawned drizzly, with a chill. We didn’t get to the Rockville Street parking lot until about 7:45 a.m., dog and I. No one else around. I expected the wood to be relatively quiet—quieter than yesterday, surely. As often when I expect things, I was wrong.
Veery.
The light rain stopped just about the time we arrived. Around us echoed the sound of water dripping from new leaves. And, of course, the voice of an ovenbird. This shy, miniature-thrush-like warbler lurks around the forest floor, where it builds a nest like a Dutch oven out of twigs and leaves. I’ve found if you stand very quietly near a nest site, one of the birds will show up on a nearby branch, fluffing its thin orange crest, to check you out—and then begin to walk very slowly away from you. Yes, they actually walk, ovenbirds do. They don’t flit or hop. They put one pink foot in front of the other. Ovenbirds nest all through the wooded side of Beech Hill, where at this time of year you can’t help but hear their ringing, echoing calls of “teacher, teacher, teacher!”
The second-growth rang with the voices of other resident warblers, as well: black-and-white, black-throated green, chestnut-sided, Nashville, common yellowthroat. I heard a number of parulas, too. The heavy, moisture-laden air gave the hillside a reverberant quality, and the sudden lushness of the wood made me think of some gone-by realm of Celts and druids and rekindled my belief that trees have souls.
Savannah sparrow.
It was a place of thrushes. Nesting robins called quietly from young trees along the trail. (I feel a particular kinship with these wilder, woodland robins who steer clear of manicured lawns.) I heard the eerie call of a veery and then managed to photograph the bird. I caught sight of a silent hermit thrush—and listened later to its miraculous, cascading song.
At one point while ascending, I recognized the voice of a rose-breasted grosbeak, another fairly common species on the hill. And later the husky call of a scarlet tanager on the lower wooded trail. Then, coming down the western slope, I heard the wheep! of a great crested flycatcher. Three first-of-year birds today.
On the climb back up the open trail, I added two other warblers: yellow and prairie. Nice to hear the curious rising trill of that latter, not-so-common Beech Hill bird. Then out of nowhere—or somewhere in the gray sky—came the yodel of a loon. It’s not an uncommon sound up there. But what was unusual was when, a little while later, just as I got done photographing a towhee, I saw an in-flight loon (could it have been the same one?) zipping low above the trees in the direction of Chickawaukee Lake. I’d never been so close to a flying loon.
As we descended the wooded slope again, the loud cry of a pileated woodpecker startled both dog and me. The bird was quite close, but we never saw it. Lush, wet, magical woodlands give some creatures the power of invisibility.
Black-throated green warbler.
Beech Hill List
At 7:45 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Ovenbird (voice)
2. Black-throated green warbler
3. Black-capped chickadee
4. American robin
5. Black-and-white warbler
6. Blue jay (voice)
7. Herring gull (voice)
8. American crow (voice)
9. Tufted titmouse (voice)
10. Chestnut-sided warbler
11. White-throated sparrow
12. Mourning dove
13. Northern parula (voice)
14. Eastern towhee
15. Gray catbird
16. Common yellowthroat
17. Veery
18. Cedar waxwing (voice)
19. Rose-breasted grosbeak (voice)
20. Hermit thrush
21. Northern raven
22. Nashville warbler
23. Song sparrow (voice)
24. Scarlet tanager (voice)
25. Eastern phoebe
26. Savannah sparrow
27. Northern flicker (voice)
28. Great crested flycatcher (voice)
29. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
30. Yellow warbler (voice)
31. Common loon
32. Prairie warbler (voice)
33. Pileated woodpecker (voice)
Elsewhere
34. House finch
35. Double-crested cormorant
36. Brown-headed cowbird
37. Laughing gull
38. Northern cardinal
Misty hills.
Tags: American crow, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, brown-headed cowbird, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common loon, common yellowthroat, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, gray catbird, great crested flycatcher, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, laughing gull, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, northern flicker, northern parula, northern raven, ovenbird, pileated woodpecker, prairie warbler, red-eyed vireo, rose-breasted grosbeak, savannah sparrow, scarlet tanager, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler
