Beech Nut.
Sunny and kind of cold this morning. But the air warmed enough today to melt most of the recent snowfall. Birds around my place: crow, song sparrow, titmouse, chickadee, house finch.
Had lunch with a friend in town. (Herring gulls, rock pigeons.) After most of an afternoon of work, dog and I took off for errands and a hike up the wooded Beech Hill trail.
The upper trail.
The wooded trail just called to me, for some reason. Still a lot of snow there on the north side of the hill. But also many robins—rich-feathered Canadian robins, moving through—probably at least a hundred of them. Interspersed with fox sparrows still, and a few chickadees. I heard crows in the wood (saw a couple fly over) and herring gulls crying from the little cow farm up Rockville Street where scores like to spend time. About half-way up the trail, I saw a flicker flap quickly away, flashing its white butt feathers.
No sign of anyone at the summit. The sky, though mostly clear, was peppered with assorted clouds. A lovely afternoon sky. We paused for a minute so I could watch a big container ship round Owls Head and head off down the bay.
We descended the lower trail, as is our habit, and slogged through long stretches of muck and mud. Many, many robins.
For some reason, while hiking down, I got to thinking about human conscientiousness and fairness and life and death and nothingness and the mysterious progression of time. Maybe something about all the old rock walls crisscrossing the deep woods, or the fallen oaks, once tall and green. As I passed certain curves and landmarks I remembered the birds I’d seen and heard there in warmer, more humid weather—the yellow-billed cuckoo calling from the canopy along one steep stretch, the place of innumerable migrating yellow-rumps, the wet spots where I’d flushed woodcocks, the turkey chicks that time—which only deepened my sense of the miraculous turning of the seasons.
American robin.
Now, here, in early spring, all the the world is trembling with potential energy. In a month or so, I won’t even recognize the hill I saw today.
Driving home I saw a mourning dove perched on a utility line. And some time later, from my back deck, I watched a pair of nuthatches explore a nesting cavity in a limb of the big oak out back. They’ve nested there before.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4:30 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. American robin
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. American crow
4. Herring gull
5. Fox sparrow
6. Northern flicker
Elsewhere
7. House finch
8. Tufted titmouse
9. Song sparrow
10. Rock pigeon
11. Mourning dove
12. White-breasted nuthatch
Jack in late afternoon.
Tags: American crow, American robin, black-capped chickadee, fox sparrow, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, northern flicker, rock pigeon, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch
