Beech Nut.
Recovering from a Borrelia burgdorferi infection requires a lot of sleep, apparently. This morning, I didn’t awaken until nearly 8 a.m.—far too late for my early Beech Hill hike with Jack. But it was dreary and drizzly and wet anyway, so I didn’t feel too badly about it. At least I appear to be recovering from my Borrelia burgdorferi infection.
So we didn’t head for the hill until after work, after the sun had emerged (about midday), after the air had warmed, after I’d had a chance to polish off a quick 14-mile bicycle ride. We reached the parking lot at just about 5:30 p.m. No other cars. Angular afternoon sun. A solitary crow flapping into the trees.
Inland, from Beech Hill, Rockport, Maine, 26 August 2010.
After a few minutes, I heard a couple chickadees peeping off in the trees to our right. Then I heard a single weep! call of a towhee from up the hill to our left. In the late-afternoon stillness, the only other sounds I heard were the voice of a wood frog, the whine of a cicada, and the calls of crickets that signal the impending demise of summer. Finally, toward the summit, I heard (and saw) a family of white-throated sparrows. Then saw the bouncing white butt of a flicker. Then heard the note of a song sparrow and the “perk chickory” call of a goldfinch in flight above us.
Not until we got clear down to the Beech Hill Road parking lot could I list any other birds. A catbird mewed, and then I saw it—too dim for a photo. I also saw a small bird flit across the trail and watched it hunt for a few seconds: a female yellow warbler.
Three other couples walked the open trail while we were there: a young couple, a mother and son (apparently), a couple of young women friends. To the west, just barely blocking the sun, a large, anvil-shaped blue cloud loomed, approaching. In fact, we climbed the hill again in the shadow of this cloud.
Descending again, I heard the song of a yellowthroat. Entering the dark lower wooded trail—the looming cloud had come quickly to dim the whole world, it seemed—I heard a wood pewee. Then another. And some time later, a third.
Finally, nearing the end of our hike, the high-pitched scree of a waxwing sounded from the evening canopy.
About an hour after our return, the sky opened, and heavy summer rain came down. The satellite dish went out, and the smell of petrichor came wafting through the windows.
Two islands in shade.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:30 p.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American crow
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. Eastern towhee (voice)
4. White-throated sparrow
5. Northern flicker
6. Song sparrow (voice)
7. American goldfinch (voice)
8. Gray catbird
9. Yellow warbler
10. Common yellowthroat
11. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
12. Cedar waxwing (voice)
Elsewhere
13. House sparrow
14. Herring gull
Storm coming.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, herring gull, house sparrow, northern flicker, song sparrow, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler
