Savannah sparrow.
You never know. We got up a little earlier this morning, fully expecting another hot and humid one. In fact, it was coolish—maybe upper-60s (F)? But on entering the wooded Beech Hill trail and beginning to climb and the sun being summer-time high and us being on the eastern side of the hill, well, in no time Jack got to panting and I’d worked up a bit of a sweat. The deer flies kept us moving quickly. And there were a few mosquitoes.
American robin.
Coming up and around a catbird thicket, we flushed some ground birds—a couple of them, at least. Their wingbeats were loud, and their wings whipped loudly against brush and twig. Neither (or none) actually flew; they simply fluttered away in the brush. And when the first, which headed in a different direction from the other(s), began to emit a plaintive wheeze or mew, I realized we’d disturbed a family of grouse.
My first spring in Maine twenty-nine years ago—my first birdwatching year, in fact—I traipsed around the woods of the Saint George peninsula tracking down native species. It was a sweet time, a time of discovery, of getting to know the blue-headed vireo (then known as the solitary vireo), the chestnut-sided warbler, the thrush, the tanager. One day, coming around a little curve in the trail I followed, a fair-sized bird burst from the understory and landed a short distance away, then commenced to snaking rapidly back and forth away from me, wings out, all the while hissing like a leaky radiator. I was transfixed, watching this bird—a ruffed grouse, clearly. It took me a few seconds to realize what was happening, that this mother hen was following the pattern of woodcock and killdeer and other ground fowl in attempting to lead me away from her brood. I’d stopped in my tracks. I turned and looked down. After about fifteen or twenty seconds, I finally picked out four motionless partridge chicks in perfect camouflage.
Chestnut-sided warbler.
(Last spring, something similar happened at Beech Hill, with a little woodcock family.)
I was tempted to wait out the grouse, but I thought better of it, and Jack and I continued up the hill. And consequently our morning hike was rewarded today with a good list of birds—including a ruby-throated hummingbird in flight over the open trail, all five sparrows, all four thrushes (counting American robin), and three woodpeckers.
When we got back to the pickup, I could hardly believe an hour and three-quarters had passed. How easy it is for me to lose myself on a summer hillside.
Water-filled leaf.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:30 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
3. Cedar waxwing
4. Chestnut-sided warbler
5. Tufted titmouse (voice)
6. Veery
7. Eastern towhee
8. Black-capped chickadee
9. Gray catbird
10. American crow (voice)
11. American goldfinch
12. Gray catbird
13. American robin
14. Ruffed grouse
15. Common yellowthroat
16. Yellow warbler (voice)
17. Mourning dove
18. Northern flicker
19. Purple finch
20. Field sparrow (voice)
21. Song sparrow
22. Wood thrush (voice)
23. Savannah sparrow
24. Ruby-throated hummingbird
25. Blue jay (voice)
26. White-throated sparrow (voice)
27. Black-billed cuckoo (voice)
28. Chipping sparrow (voice)
29. Northern cardinal (voice)
30. American redstart (voice)
31. Eastern phoebe (voice)
32. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
33. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
34. Hermit thrush (voice)
35. Black-throated blue warbler (voice)
36. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
37. Pileated woodpecker (voice)
Elsewhere
38. Herring gull
39. Red-winged blackbird
Vine.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, field sparrow, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, purple finch, red-eyed vireo, ruby-throated hummingbird, ruffed grouse, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, wood thrush, yellow warbler
