A bright morning. Much nippier than yesterday—in the 20s (F) when first I checked. Crows flapped about, and the dauntless titmouse sang. Across the road, I noticed three house finches flitting in and out from under the green awnings of the Claddagh Motel.

By the time Jack and I got up and out, the day had warmed some. I took my bike for a tune-up and was pleased to hear it could be ready to pick up in only a day or two. Gulls flying over—herrings and ring-bills—and rock pigeons in town. While driving through Rockport Village, I spotted a mourning dove flying swiftly overhead.

I’m still not quite used to daylight savings time, so even though we got to the hill rather late, clock-wise, it didn’t seem very close to evening.

A couple vehicles in the parking lot. A slippery trail. In fact, the lower trail consisted mostly of just a narrow bridge of hard-packed snow, with mud on either side. Dog and I worked hard to stay on the snowy part. I heard a mourning dove calling from near Beech Hill Road.

We encountered little snow on the upper trail, and the sky spready blue and hazy over the hill. The heavy boulder-moving machinery remains—for how long I do not know. We met no one coming up and no one coming down. Not sure where the owners of the two vehicles got to. Maybe they’d continued on down into the wooded trails.

Ruddy-colored fields lay bare on either side of the trail, a sign of late-winter days. Underfoot was either slick ice, grainy snow, or sloppy mud. I found myself starting to think about ticks—although I didn’t check very carefully afterward.

Back home, I heard the cooing of a mourning dove coming from somewhere nearby. Saw an old nest I hadn’t noticed before lodged about half-way up a small maple out back. Heard the finches chatting with each other well into evening on the other side of the house.

And then rose a waxing moon.

Tonight, a minute ago, I heard the voices of geese from out in the wide flats of Clam Cove.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:15 p.m., I hiked the open trail.

1. Mourning dove (voice)

Elsewhere

2. American crow
3. Tufted titmouse
4. House finch
5. Herring gull
6. Ring-billed gull
7. Rock pigeon
8. Mallard
9. Canada goose

Tags: American crow, herring gull, house finch, mallard, mourning dove, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, tufted titmouse

This entry was posted on Monday, March 14th, 2011 at 9:43 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.