Beech Nut.
Man, was it foggy this morning. It was so foggy that I couldn’t even hear the foghorns out in the harbor as we began our daily walk up Beech Hill, a mere couple miles away.
Northern flicker.
Deer flies have no problem with the fog, turns out. Plenty buzzed around our heads, Jack’s and mine, as we climbed the wooded trail. I didn’t have a lot of optimism when it came to bird sightings—or certainly photographs, since my long lens really needs more light than you get when your world is surrounded by a cloud. But, yet again, my expectations proved wholly inaccurate.
Foggy it was. And dark. First bird today was a black-throated green warbler, whose song seemed closer in the cloud. Then, not far along the upper trail, I couldn’t help but stop to listen to the riotous chips and chatters of a fair-sized collection of small passerines. I broke out the binoculars and identified black-and-white warblers, yellow warblers, chestnut-sided warblers, catbirds, towhees—and a flicker. Only the chestnut-sided was singing its song; the rest were simply chipping and cheeping and chasing. For not the first time, I noticed a bit of what seemed like a little competition between a black-and-white and a yellow. I think those species must prefer the same kind of habitat or something.
The flicker undulated away, its white butt bright in the mist.
Purple finch.
Toward the top of the trail, I heard the song of a purple finch. Over the crowns of some low trees I saw it, singing in the fog.
And at the summit, the sparrows began to sing. By the time we’d descended to the Beech Hill Road parking lot, I’d heard—and twice seen—all five resident species. And just the parking lot itself was rich with bird life: wood thrush, white-throat, redstart, chickadee, catbird, hairy woodpecker, titmouse, yellowthroat, robin, chippy, chestnut-sided, goldfinch, veery, waxwing, cuckoo. And I’m probably leaving a couple out.
Coming back up the hill, the fog had not lifted. A colorless, bitmapped sort of day. The black-eyed susans lent some brightness to the slope beneath Beech Nut. When a little breeze picked up in the wooded sections, it seemed like it’d begun to rain.
No swallows today, but the first rose-breasted grosbeak in what seemed like weeks. No ground birds, but all four thrushes. And a couple of insistent, disembodied black-billed cuckoos. Nor any garter snake—but on our way back, nearing the end of the lower wooded trail, both Jack and I noticed a fast-jumping frog crossing swiftly just in front of us. A wood frog, which paused at the edge to our left. I had to use my flash to snap its photo.
Wood frog.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:30 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
2. American goldfinch
3. Common yellowthroat
4. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
5. Veery (voice)
6. Rose-breasted grosbeak
7. American crow (voice)
8. Chestnut-sided warbler (voice)
9. Eastern towhee
10. Gray catbird
11. Black-and-white warbler
12. Yellow warbler
13. Northern flicker
14. Alder flycatcher (voice)
15. Purple finch
16. Cedar waxwing
17. Song sparrow
18. Ovenbird (voice)
19. Mourning dove (voice)
20. Field sparrow (voice)
21. Savannah sparrow
22. Blue jay (voice)
23. White-throated sparrow (voice)
24. Chipping sparrow (voice)
25. American robin
26. Wood thrush (voice)
27. American redstart (voice)
28. Tufted titmouse (voice)
29. Hairy woodpecker
30. Black-billed cuckoo
31. Black-capped chickadee
32. Hermit thrush (voice)
33. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
34. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
Elsewhere
35. House sparrow
36. Herring gull
37. Northern cardinal
A touch of color.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, field sparrow, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, house sparrow, morning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, ovenbird, purple finch, red-eyed vireo, rose-breasted grosbeak, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, wood thrush, yellow warbler
