Common yellowthroat (male).
This was one of those quiet, overcast, calm, moody days that I tend to love. The cloud cover lends some kind of protection, a soft ceiling, and the daylight dims into something that feels like a womb. Dog and I hit the hill at about 6:45. No one else up there, as usual. Just man and dog and birds. And white-tailed deer. And red squirrel. And chipmunk.
Common yellowthroat (female).
And plenty of invertebrates, of course. Like the mouthful of spider that the female yellowthroat had clutched in her bill as she and her mate chipped and hollered as Jack and I stood too near her nest. Two pair of yellowthroats accosted us at that particular patch of undergrowth, in fact, just on the northeast side of the summit.
We’re just entering the season when it’s easiest to photograph the common yellowthroat. They’ve got nests, they’ve got hatchlings they’ve got to feed. They nest in thickets of waist-high brush. Before their eggs hatch, they slink around just out of sight, calling loudly witchita-witchita-witchita, and don’t tend to pose. But once they’ve got nestlings, they get brave and protective, and often they’ll present themselves for a nice portrait.
Savannah sparrow.
As do savannah sparrows. Their young are at approximately the same stage, I’d say, judging by the parents’ similarly urgent chipping displays along the open, grassy trails. One in particular today perched and scolded—and preened itself shamelessly not ten feet from dog and me.
Otherwise, the hike on the hill yielded a bunch of species—an unexpected variety, in fact—including chimney swift (my first Beech Hill sighting), a flushed ruffed grouse, a northern cardinal, a purple finch, a female rose-breasted grosbeak. All four resident thrushes, all five resident sparrows, all but one (least) resident flycatchers. In particular, when we got clear down to the Beech Hill Road parking lot, we heard and/or saw at least a dozen species there all at once—and likely more—calling and flitting up and about in the thick hardwood canopy. (I feel sure I didn’t ID a couple warblers up in there.)
Heard no cuckoos today, saw no raptors. Didn’t even count a phoebe. But it was a rich full day of birding nonetheless.
And to cap things off: on our drive home, coming down Route 1’s Powerhouse Hill, I couldn’t help but notice above us four great blue herons flying northward up the hill in what looked like some kind of choreographed formation. I liked to laughed out loud.
Common yellowthroat.
Beech Hill List
At 6:45 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. Ovenbird
3. American robin
4. Chestnut-sided warbler
5. Veery (voice)
6. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
7. Eastern towhee
8. Gray catbird
9. Mourning dove
10. Common yellowthroat
11. American redstart
12. White-throated sparrow (voice)
13. American crow (voice)
14. Cedar waxwing
15. Alder flycatcher
16. Yellow warbler (voice)
17. Chimney swift
18. Tree swallow
19. Song sparrow
20. Ruffed grouse
21. Savannah sparrow
22. Black-and-white warbler
23. Wood thrush (voice)
24. Rose-breasted grosbeak
25. Chipping sparrow (voice)
26. American goldfinch (voice)
27. Northern cardinal (voice)
28. Purple finch (voice)
29. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
30. Hairy woodpecker
31. Field sparrow (voice)
32. Blue jay (voice)
33. Hermit thrush (voice)
34. Great crested flycatcher (voice)
35. Black-throated green warbler
Elsewhere
35. Great blue heron
36. House finch
37. Herring gull
Savannah sparrow, preening.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chimney swift, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, field sparrow, gray catbird, great crested flycatcher, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, mourning dove, northern cardinal, ovenbird, purple finch, red-eyed vireo, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruffed grouse, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, veery, white-throated sparrow, wood thrush, yellow warbler
