Chestnut-sided warbler.
Last night I felt a sting on the back-side of my left shoulder and saw a small wound there with a pink circle around it. Mildly alarming. Today after hiking Beech Hill, I took another look, and the wound had grown exponentially, and the concentric pink rings looked like this.
Maybe that’s why today’s hike didn’t seem quite as sweet as usual. And decent photos were few. However, it was sunny, breezy, and birdy. And I’m happy to report having listed a nice number of wood-warblers.
Two islands.
The oddities—or, semi-oddities, in that they’re not uncommon, just relatively silent in summer—were: black-billed cuckoo, rose-breasted grosbeak, yellow-rump, ovenbird, redstart. Hummingbirds, wholly missing from the early part of the year, have been flitting all over the place—at the summit, amid the spruces, down the open fields, dipping down to pink flowers. Mostly females, seems like.
The hot spots were the summit spruces and the Beech Hill Road parking lot, as usual lately. Many little warblers zipping about. None singing except a res=dstart at the parking lot—first I’ve heard in at least three or four weeks, I bet. And I happened to spot an ovenbird in the sunny branches of a hardwood. They’re silent now. First one in a long time.
After I watched a little family of chestnut-sideds down there, I trekked back up and over without seeing another species. But already there’d been twenty-eight, which was decent. A pretty quick trip. Not unfruitful.
Soon after, I visited my doctor who confirmed that I should be taking an antibiotic for (thankfully) early-stage Lyme disease. I suppose it was only a matter of time.
Chestnut-sided warbler.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:45 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Red-eyed-vireo (voice)
2. American goldfinch
3. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
4. Blue jay (voice)
5. Black-capped chickadee
6. American crow
7. Black-billed cuckoo (voice)
8. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
9. Rose-breasted grosbeak (voice)
10. White-throated sparrow (voice)
11. Eastern towhee
12. Gray catbird
13. Cedar waxwing
14. Common yellowthroat
15. Yellow warbler
16. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
17. Song sparrow
18. Eastern phoebe
19. Mourning dove
20. Yellow-rumped warbler
21. Ruby-throated hummingbird
22. Red-breasted nuthatch (voice)
23. Savannah sparrow
24. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
25. American robin
26. American redstart (voice)
27. Ovenbird
28. Chestnut-sided warbler
Elsewhere
29. Herring gull
30. House sparrow
31. Northern cardinal
Morning woods.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, ovenbird, red-breasted nuthatch, red-eyed vireo, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruby-throated hummingbird, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler, yellow-rumped warbler
