Black-throated green warbler.
Up early. Clear morning. A bit warmer than yesterday.
Jack and I got to Beech Hill about 7. Sunlight was streaming through the sugarbush, and warblers were singing. Lots of warblers. For a while, in fact, we simply stood there at the edge of the parking lot, and I counted like crazy. The voices of at least eight wood warblers mixed together, along with the gobble of a turkey, the cry of a flicker, and the scream of a herring gull. Also a blue-headed vireo. And a crow. Standing there, I soon realized that black flies might be a problem—they were thick and swarming.
Chestnut-sided warbler.
I gotta confess: it was pretty exciting.
Coming around the first curve, I heard the distinctive chi-bek! of a least flycatcher—then caught sight of the little bird about half-way up a poplar. First-of-year species.
Plenty more birds coming up the trail.The usual towhees and chickadees, a couple of grosbeaks, a veery. (Turkeys seemed particularly active—I heard them gobbling from three places on the hill.) Catbird, yell0w-rumps, sparrows. A group of cormorants flew over in formation as we reached the upper fields. No kestrel today, but coming down the open trail I spotted three turkey vultures soaring over the western slope.
About half-way down, a pair of tree swallows zipped up and began to circle us. They flew very near. Tree swallows are the best flyers, in my opinion, and I desperately wished for a photo—but you just can’t photograph a flying tree swallow. Or I suppose you can, but it’d take a long, long time. Like, days. So I simply stood there and enjoyed their seeming interest in dog and me. They must’ve circled us for a full minute before sailing away to the north across the fields.
Magnolia warbler.
Then, in a little trail-side birch, I heard a black-throated green warbler singing. We walked slowly up, and I got some great looks at the little bird. It was plucking small caterpillars from the branches. Our little insectivorous migrants love them some caterpillars, that’s for sure.
Down toward the Beech Hill Road parking lot, as I was looking to photograph a catbird, suddenly I heard the loud song of a parula behind me. Turned slowly, and the bird was right there. By far the closest I’d ever been to a parula. Too near, in fact, for a decent photograph—especially since those little guys barely stop moving at all.
At the parking lot itself, I heard my first redstart of the year, then saw the bird—an adult male—singing from high in the canopy. And returning, I somehow managed to get a brilliantly feathered magnolia warbler in my sights. (Another first-of-year bird.) Then a couple little sparrows flitted over into the blueberries not far away. A pair of chippies.
We’d spent a lot of time on the hill already, so I picked up the pace on our way back up and over. Down in the eastern fields, I noticed three or four crows perched in the top of a tree and all cawing together. Looked up, and there was a broad-winged hawk soaring in a lazy circle, occasionally emitting its high, thin scree! Coming down the wooded trail, I heard a great crested flycatcher and a pileated woodpecker and—in a nice surprise—a wood thrush. First wood thrush of the year.
Nearing the end of our trip, a couple of sparrows jumped up into a bush near the edge of the trail, and we stopped. Swamp sparrows. Very near the place I saw one a week or so ago.
Northern parula.
The day warmed, and in mid-afternoon I rode my bicycle. The most notable sighting? Common grackles flying out toward the back of a residential care facility toward town. Saw them both coming and going.
Once I compiled my list, I saw that I topped fifty birds today for the first time in 2011. What a great birding day.
Tonight is cool and clear. Tomorrow morning I lead a bird walk in Cushing. It’s supposed to cloud up. I hope we beat the rain—could be a fruitful excursion.
Addendum: at 10:10 p.m., I stepped out to look at the moon and heard the flight song of an American woodcock.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Ovenbird (voice)
2. Northern parula
3. Chestnut-sided warbler
4. Eastern phoebe
5. Common yellowthroat
6. Black-and-white warbler
7. Wild turkey (voice)
8. Northern flicker (voice)
9. Black-throated green warbler
10. Herring gull (voice)
11. Nashville warbler (voice)
12. Black-throated blue warbler
13. American crow
14. Blue-headed vireo
15. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
16. American goldfinch (voice)
17. Least flycatcher
18. Rose-breasted grosbeak (voice)
19. Black-capped chickadee
20. Tufted titmouse (voice)
21. Veery (voice)
22. Gray catbird
23. Eastern towhee
24. White-throated sparrow
25. Hermit thrush
26. Song sparrow
27. Blue jay (voice)
28. Yellow-rumped warbler
29. Double-crested cormorant
30. American robin
31. Savannah sparrow
32. Yell0w warbler (voice)
33. Tree swallow
34. Turkey vulture
35. Field sparrow (voice)
36. Downy woodpecker
37. Chipping sparrow
38. Mourning dove
39. American redstart
40. Magnolia warbler
41. Broad-winged hawk
42. Great crested flycatcher (voice)
43. Pileated woodpecker (voice)
44. Wood thrush (voice)
45. Swamp sparrow
Elsewhere
46. House finch
47. House sparrow
48. European starling
49. Rock pigeon
50. Common grackle
51. Northern cardinal
52. American woodcock
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, blue-headed vireo, broad-winged hawk, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common grackle, common yellowthroat, double-crested cormorant, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, European starling, field sparrow, gray catbird, great crested flycatcher, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, least flycatcher, magnolia warbler, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, northern flicker, northern parula, ovenbird, pileated woodpecker, rock pigeon, rose-breasted grosbeak, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, swamp sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, wild turkey, wood thrush, yellow warbler, yellow-rumped warbler
