Eleven crows.
Headed up Beech Hill early again this morning with Jack, my dog. It seemed cold and windy, so I wore two layers under my hoodie. It wasn’t enough.
Blue jay.
The temperature exceeded freezing, but the wind was whipping. My hands got to tingling quickly. Chickadee, jay, yellow-rump. A brilliant sun lit a world of brown and russet and yellow. Walking along the first series of planks, I noticed what looked like tiny pellets of sleet on the surface of the wood. Funny—I was sure there hadn’t been precipitation overnight.
Around the first turn, a loose dog appeared—same dog we came upon several days ago, belonging to someone in a house nearby—but although it looked like it wanted to follow us up, there came a change of mind, and it loped back down toward home.
Yell0w-rump, yellow-rump. White-throated sparrow. Crow.
More than one crow, actually. Several crows. A dozen. Two. They all took flight down the southern slope against a field of distant clouds.
Yellow-rump, yellow-rump.
Yellow-rumped warbler.
I put my hood up and pulled my hands into my sleeves.
I heard a flicker. Saw a song sparrow. Actually got a look at a family of jays.
As cold as it felt up there, we didn’t linger long. On the way back down, I heard a tufted titmouse’s two-note love song. And soon after, the rapid chips of juncos.
Yellow-rump, yellow rump.
Today I learned that, if conditions are right, remnant water on exposed wood planks can turn into tiny, sleet-like pellets.
(Full moon tonight. Very, very bright out.)
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:30 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Black-capped chickadee
2. Blue jay
3. Yellow-rumped warbler
4. White-throated sparrow
5. American crow
6. Northern flicker (voice)
7. Song sparrow
8. Tufted titmouse (voice)
9. Dark-eyed junco (voice)
Elsewhere
10. Pileated woodpecker
11. Herring gull
12. European starling
Ice pellets.
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, dark-eyed junco, European starling, herring gull, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
