Up early. About 20 degrees (F) when first I stepped out with dog. Sunny. Little breeze. Chickadees, crows, the singing titmouse, and a house sparrow were the first birds on my list. No sign of the skunk that dog and I spotted on our final trip out last night—a big, fluffy one standing right beside the house about ten yards away from us, lit by the streetlights—but Jack’s been sniffing around.

During morning, clouds moved in. The temperature rose toward freezing, but I’m not sure it quite got there. On one of my trips out, I heard a herring gull chatter. Got a lot of work done then decided to head to town.

More herring gulls, ring-bills, rock pigeons—the usual town birds. Post office, grocery store. Heard a house finch calling in the trees near the grocery. Errands done, we took a quick trip to Beech Hill.

The heavy equipment was still there, but the guys had knocked off for the day. A couple cars in the lot. Met a couple women returning from separate hikes. Heard chickadees singing merrily in the wooded area by the road.

The clouds had thinned to reveal a hazy setting sun. Not a lot of wind. Quiet. Listened to far sounds—car tires, barking dogs—and then, circling Beech Nut, I heard a crazy mourning dove call. Not the typical, deep, lonesome coo-coo, but rather a nasal, treble-sounding series of notes. It appeared to come from down the wooded trail, but then I spotted the bird not far away at all, sitting on the dead spruce snag where doves commonly perch during summer. We moved fairly close before it flew away on whistling wings.

The footing was good, the hike a nice one. You can feel spring approaching. Just a few days away.

With dark settling in I happened to hear the faint peeps of what I must assume was one of the resident cardinals bedding down for the night. Seems certain we’ll have a family of cardinals again this year.

The crescent moon, a little larger, set behind the oaks, a little later. I noticed it was surrounded by a haze.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.

1. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
2. Mourning dove
3. Hairy woodpecker (voice)

Elsewhere

4. American crow
5. Tufted titmouse
6. House sparrow
7. Herring gull
8. Rock pigeon
9. Ring-billed gull
10. House finch
11. Northern cardinal

Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, northern cardinal, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, tufted titmouse

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 at 10:43 pm and is filed under Lists, Observations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.