Moon over the bay.
For much of today, I thought it was Wednesday. Just goes to show you the busyness of my week, I guess. But it’ll take a lot more than mere busyness to keep us from our daily Beech Hill hike, Jack and I.
Joe Z.
The day was sunny and breezy and brisk. Cooler than yesterday, not nearly as damp. We hit the hill in mid-afternoon.
Ascending, I couldn’t ignore the sounds of gas-powered engines coming from alongside the open slope above us. I saw Joe the steward brush-hogging the blueberry acreage and another man mowing with a tractor. But this noisy activity didn’t much faze us and a few others making the scenic climb.
Still, several minutes passed before I heard evidence of birds: the urgent, distant caws of a crow.
The conspicuous waxing gibbous moon first appeared over the summit—and then hung like an ornament in the sky above the blue bay, where I saw a wheel of distant gulls flashing in the angling sunlight. The chill wind numbed my fingers as we rounded Beech Nut. Besides the wind, the crow, and the whining machinery, there wasn’t too much to be heard up there.
Golden-crowned kinglet.
We descended into the teeth of the wind. Finally, as we approached the parking lot, I heard the voices of chickadees sprinkling from the roadside brush. Then the thin calls of kinglets. The kinglets flitted close by and even seemed to be accompanying us along the last stretch, and I spent several minutes working to get decent photos—to no avail. Those little guys are active, hardly ever sitting still.
Just before we got back to the pickup, I heard the cry of a flicker. That made five birds on my list this sunny, nippy day.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 2:45 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American crow (voice)
2. Herring gull
3. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
4. Golden-crowned kinglet
5. Northern flicker (voice)
Elsewhere
6. House sparrow
7. European starling
Moon.
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, European starling, golden-crowned kinglet, herring gull, house sparrow, northern flicker
