Sunset reflection.
Awoke to light snow. Warmer temperatures—although not all that warm. Teens (F), I’d say. But the temperature continued to rise (and the light snow continued to fall) all day. Crows chased and cawed in the naked trees. I heard house sparrows again across the road.
Late afternoon.
Got stuff done. Then, in mid-afternoon, I happened to be looking out the east window just as a large flock of birds fluttered down into the trees far across the road. Stood and looked: the birds adorned every branch in the crowns of at least three hardwoods over there. Judging by their flight and flocking behavior, I’m calling them waxwings. Bohemians. Up to a hundred of them. Possibly even the same group I spotted at Beech Hill the other day.
Beech Hill. Finally got dog in the truck at about 4 p.m., just about the time the sky was finally clearing (after about a three- or four-inch snowfall, I might just note), and we hurried to the hill. No cars in the parking lot. In fact, none had been there all day, that I could tell. And no one had hiked the trail before us—that is, until we turned the corner at the gate. A brown creeper called from the trees just as I noticed from their tracks that a human and a dog had passed this way before. We followed their path through deep, fluffy snow drifts until about half-way up, when their tracks reversed, and then we were truly the first up there this day. The red-orange sun seemed large as it began to sink behind the Rockville ridge. Intermittently I looked over at it as it slowly disappeared.
New snow.
No other birds on the hill today. Not much wind. Warm enough not to have to put my hood up. The reflection of the sky on Beech Nut’s windows seemed particularly warm—kind of a cantaloupe color.
We followed our footprints back down as the clear sky dimmed. It dimmed just a little later than it did yesterday.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4:15 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Brown creeper (voice)
Elsewhere
2. American crow
3. House sparrow
4. Bohemian waxwing
Far clouds.
Tags: American crow, Bohemian waxwing, brown creeper, house sparrow
