Hiking the open trail.
This morning showed more clouds than sun. Temps in the 20s (F). First bird I saw, out the kitchen window while washing dishes, was a mourning dove fluttering up into a branch of one of the big oaks. Then a crow did the same (although I guess it didn’t really flutter—more like flapped). When Jack and I stepped out, I heard both a titmouse and a chickadee. Two tits.
Beech Nut.
Got exceptionally busy early—as is typical on about every other Monday—and didn’t get out of the office until mid-afternoon. While doing errands in town I saw the usual herring gulls along with a huge flock of starlings dining on (I presume) grass seed in the exposed lawn of the Rockland Public Library. First starlings of the year.
Finally we made our way down Route 17 toward Beech Hill. While passing the little public beach at Chickawaukie Lake—where I always look over to see if ducks are present in the trickling outfall—I noticed maybe a dozen ice skaters, in little clusters, gliding and circling far out on the surface of the pond. Right away I got a hankering to skate. I love to skate, but it’s been a couple years at least. Made a mental note to consider the possibility tomorrow.
We got to Beech Hill not long before the sun would disappear behind the Rockville Ridge. One pickup in the parking lot. A slight, biting breeze; a slick, icy trail. Coming up, I beheld the sort of red-lit hillside that occurs only at this time of day, at this time of year. The fields could’ve been aflame, and the stones of Beech Nut nearly glowed. Not a single cloud in the sky—just a hemisphere of empty fading blue.
We met a solo hiker on his way down and said a quick “Hello.”
Sunset.
Approaching the summit, I saw that a faint field of clouds floated far offshore—the only clouds in the sky. At the top, I stopped to listen: the rush of wind against my ears, the faint whisper of car tires on Route 17, a distant barking dog. No flicker, no crow, no chickadee.
About the time we began our descent the sun had just completed its own, and the cloudless southwestern sky rose in a bandless blend of colors from orange to yellow to white-blue to blue to midnight blue. I always have to take a deep breath and marvel at such a clean, clear, cold winter evening sky.
Looked for owls. Saw none. And before jumping back into the pickup, I listened for chickadees. Heard none.
But no birdlessness would ruin a hike like that for us, though, Jack and me.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
No bird species seen or heard on the hill today.
Elsewhere
1. Mourning dove
2. American crow
3. Tufted titmouse
4. Black-capped chickadee
5. Herring gull
6. European starling
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, European starling, herring gull, mourning dove, tufted titmouse
