Foggy slope.
Foggy this morning. House finches singing. The redstart was still calling out back. Also an ovenbird. House sparrows poked around the front walkway out my window. Crows.
Yellow warbler.
As the day progressed, some of the fog burned off, and shadows appeared. I met a friend for lunch downtown, and the sun shone brightly throughout our meal. Afterward, I took my usual bicycle ride, and the sun became cloaked with haze. Still, it was a birdy bike ride: redstarts, a red-winged blackbird, starlings, goldfinches, chipping sparrows, song sparrows, chestnut-sided warblers, yellow warblers, crows, gulls, robins, catbirds. Soon after my return, I grabbed Jack, and we set off for a few pre-hike errands.
By the time we got to Beech Hill, fog had descended again. Thick fog. Nobody else felt like hiking in it, apparently, for we met no others on the hill.
But birds were active, singing along all trails. Today’s list looked a lot like yesterday’s, in fact: warblers (but no parula or black-throated green), sparrows (but no chippy), catbird and hummingbird and crow. Coming up the trail, I saw a hawk take wing and fly up through the fog ahead of us. I didn’t get a great look but figured it was a broad-winged—and then got confirmation from its thin, high cry.
At a couple of points, I heard the faint calls of hummingbirds in the low foliage; at one, I caught sight of two of the little hummers hovering amid the greenery. Didn’t see a lot of birds, but heard many—including titmouse, cardinal, cowbird, dove.
Coming back through the lower woods, we passed a place where a hermit thrush was singing and stopped. The bird was right there, on the inside of a curve in the trail. I walked slowly around the curve two or three times scanning for it, following my ears, but never did spot it. We left it there singing its echoing song in the fog.
Jack and ferns.
The final bird today was a wood-pewee—second in as many days.
Back home, as the trees dripped, and the fog horns sounded, and I confirmed that both the nuthatches and phoebes were still attending their respective nests. The redstart was hanging around still. As dim daylight lingered, I watched the dark shapes of crows in the trees as they gathered before flying off to roost.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American goldfinch (voice)
2. Eastern phoebe
3. Common yellowthroat
4. American robin
5. American crow
6. Chestnut-sided warbler
7. Veery (voice)
8. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
9. Eastern towhee
10. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
11. Broad-winged hawk
12. Black-capped chickadee
13. American redstart (voice)
14. Herring gull (voice)
15. Gray catbird
16. Ovenbird (voice)
17. Ruby-throated hummingbird
18. Blue jay (voice)
19. Yellow warbler
20. Hermit thrush (voice)
21. Song sparrow
22. Field sparrow (voice)
23. Wood thrush (voice)
24. Northern flicker (voice)
25. Rose-breasted grosbeak (voice)
26. Alder flycatcher (voice)
27. Mourning dove (voice)
28. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
29. Tufted titmouse (voice)
30. Brown-headed cowbird (voice)
31. Northern cardinal (voice)
32. White-throated sparrow (voice)
33. Black-throated blue warbler (voice)
34. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
Elsewhere
35. House finch
36. House sparrow
37. Red-winged blackbird
38. European starling
39. Chipping sparrow
40. White-breasted nuthatch
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, blue jay, broad-winged hawk, brown-headed cowbird, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, European starling, field sparrow, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, red-winged blackbird, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruby-throated hummingbird, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, wood thrush, yellow warbler
