Northern parula.
Jack and I met our friend Kristen at the wooded Beech Hill trailhead to take advantage of the glorious weather to hike the whole hill. We got there a bit early and stood amid the maples listing to birdsong. Despite it being a little late in the morning (8:15 or so), I counted sixteen species before we even started walking up the hill.
Black-throated blue warbler.
During our ascent, we heard a booming grouse, picked out the voice of an alder flycatcher, and flushed a woodcock. Near the grassy summit, we spotted a turkey vulture and a red-tailed hawk. On the open side, we heard the resident chipping sparrow.
We also heard the loony yellowthroat song—something I wanted to point out to Kristen. Sure enough the bird was declaring itself loudly and openly. What a crazy call.
But it wasn’t the only one. The Nashville warbler near the summit has a sort of slurred, downward-moving collection of notes—although they follow the proper meter. And one of the field sparrows calling from the open slopes seems to split the species’ common call in two. Chestnut-sided warblers, of course, have long since begun using their alternate voice—a series of mealy-mouthed warbles—though they also still sing “Pleased, pleased pleased to meet you!” Then, coming back down the lower wooded trail, I heard a call that’s had me baffled for at least three seasons.
Eastern towhee.
“There,” I said to Kristen. “What’s that?”
I’d told her about this call a couple years ago—even sent her a recording of it. At the time, she wondered if it might be an aberrant black-throated blue song. It didn’t sound like that at all to me, what with its few, clear chimes at the start, although it ended in a kind of buzz. Well, here it was, the mystery call, and the bird wasn’t that far away.
“Could it be a black-throated blue?” Kristen said (or something like that). Neither of us recalled she’d guessed that before.
I asked her to hold Jack’s leash while I left the trail to hunt for the source of the call. Didn’t take very long to find it: a black-throated blue warbler. Son of a gun, if she wasn’t right all along. I took a couple photos. Mystery solved.
»Aberrant black-throated blue warbler song
We listed all five resident sparrows, ten warblers, two of three thrushes, and all three resident flycatchers. Ending with the voice of a wood-pewee—a first-of-year bird for Kristen—we tallied forty species on the hill this day.
Savannah sparrow.
Later (unable to resist such glorious weather) I hit the road on my bike and ended up cycling eighteen miles. But during the first of those miles, as I passed a busy commercial Route 1 intersection, I spotted a gray bird with white wing patches flapping up and perching on a power line. I knew the bird well from life-long experience: a mockingbird. First-of-year bird for me.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 8:15 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Ovenbird
2. Common yellowthroat
3. American robin
4. American goldfinch (voice)
5. Chestnut-sided warbler
6. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
7. American redstart
8. Mourning dove (voice)
9. Black-capped chickadee
10. Herring gull (voice)
11. Black-and-white warbler
12. White-throated sparrow (voice)
13. Red-eyed vireo
14. Eastern towhee
15. Tufted titmouse (voice)
16. Gray catbird
17. American crow (voice)
18. Rose-breasted grosbeak (voice)
19. Veery (voice)
20. Alder flycatcher (voice)
21. Ruffed grouse (booming)
22. Blue jay (voice)
23. American woodcock
24. Song sparrow
25. Field sparrow (voice)
26. Nashville warbler (voice)
27. Savannah sparrow
28. Tree swallow
29. Eastern phoebe
30. Turkey vulture
31. Yellow warbler (voice)
32. Northern flicker
33. Great crested flycatcher (voice)
34. Chipping sparrow (voice)
35. Red-tailed hawk
36. Blue-headed vireo (voice)
37. Black-throated blue warbler
38. Hermit thrush
39. Northern parula
40. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
Elsewhere
41. Pileated woodpecker
42. House sparrow
43. House finch
44. Laughing gull
45. Northern cardinal
46. Rock pigeon
47. European starling
48. Northern mockingbird*
*First-of-year bird
Red-tailed hawk.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, American woodcock, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, blue-headed vireo, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, European starling, field sparrow, gray catbird, great crested flycatcher, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, laughing gull, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, northern flicker, northern mockingbird, northern parula, ovenbird, pileated woodpecker, red-eyed vireo, red-tailed hawk, rock pigeon, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruffed grouse, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture, veery, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler
