Field.
Today dawned cloudy. Last night’s rain dribbled down the hill out back in rivulets then washed across the parking lot, but Route 1’s travel lanes had already dried. House sparrows chirped from across the road. Crows flew back and forth among the oaks, as usual, and a lone herring gull sailed overhead in the light wind.
Birch.
We had Beech Hill mostly to ourselves today, Jack and I. We headed up in early afternoon. By then the overcast had gone, and the sky spread bright and blue.
Heard the faint calls of chickadees as we hit the trail then saw a solitary raven soaring high in the eastern distance. The track was soggy—I’d thought to wear my high-topped hiking boots—and the air was cold, brisk, breezy. Lungfuls of it tasted fresh, and my deep inhalations kept barely on the sweet edge of searing pain. Inevitably, walking up there reminds me that I’m alive.
Inevitably, walking up there reminds Jack of all the smells of recent dogs and mice and wild critters. (He stops often to sniff and mark.) He stopped to sniff near my favorite birch, which seemed particularly photogenic.
Suddenly a raucous chorus of blue jays rose from the southern slope. The barrens looked like sheets of bronze beneath the astonishing blue, and the bay view seemed lifted from a postcard.
A flicker cried. I never did hear a crow.
Spruce.
We walked fast up and down. Nearing the base of the hill again, we met a little family just beginning their chilly hike. Then, as Jack sniffed around near the parking lot, I sensed movement and looked up to see a handsome adult red-tailed hawk flying low through the trees not 25 yards away. Too swift for a photo, but I’ve got its wide red tail stuck vividly in my memory—at least for a little while.
The sun set earlier than yesterday. Now the night is black and starry, but I still remember the redtail.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 1 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
2. Common raven
3. Blue jay (voice)
4. Northern flicker (voice)
5. Red-tailed hawk
Elsewhere
6. American crow
7. House sparrow
8. Herring gull
9. Ring-billed gull
The bay.
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, common raven, herring gull, house sparrow, northern flicker, red-tailed hawk, ring-billed gull
