Eastern bluebird (female).
Another moist day, although quite a bit cooler than yesterday. Light fog. House finch singing, house sparrows flitting about out front, crows in the oaks, the redstart calling out back. Spent most of the day doing desk work to the accompaniment of the former and latter.
About midday I took a quick trip to town, where I saw a few of our more cultured species—pigeons, starlings, grackle, red-winged blackbird—then at the end of the day Jack and I kept our appointment with the Beech Hill trails.
Veery.
Chilly, damp, quiet. Oh, there were birds singing—occasionally, and sort of softly. Goldfinch, chickadee, a few warblers. The most vocal by far seemed to be veeries. (Coincidentally, the first of many was a silent bird that flitted up into a small maple, eyeing me.) As we came around the first turn in the trail, a veery greeted us with its loud veer! note, repeated at regular intervals. In the distance I could hear another. And by the time we reached the second bird, I heard a third. At some point, they began to sing their distinctive descending phrases, like flowing fountains of song.
Elsewhere on the hill, I heard the songs of all three other resident thrushes—hermit thrush, wood thrush, robin. And walking along the upper fields, we surprised a ribbon snake, which undulated madly across the trail.
By the time we reached the fog-cloaked summit, I’d heard the voices of eighteen birds but had only seen three (chickadee, catbird, veery). But coming down the misty open trail, just as we noticed another couple of hikers approaching, I spotted a pair of small, dark birds flying off to the left, where they lit in the upper branches of a tree. Bluebirds, a male and female. First of the species I’ve seen this year on the hill—a place where you’d think they’d thrive. There aren’t as many bluebirds as there used to be, so it was particularly nice to see this pair.
Eastern bluebird (male).
As thicker fog gathered, I added another half-dozen species to my list. Then coming down the wooded trail, paying attention to the muddy footing, I noticed Jack fixing his gaze on something and looked up to see a turkey standing there not far away. We stopped, I accidentally stepped on Jack’s toe, he yiped, I apologized, and when I looked up again, the turkey was gone.
Earlier this evening, the finch and redstart were singing still, as the nuthatch and phoebe flitted to and from their nests.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American goldfinch (voice)
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. Chestnut-sided warbler (voice)
4. Ovenbird
5. Veery
6. Eastern towhee (voice)
7. Herring gull (voice)
8. Gray catbird
9. Common yellowthroat (voice)
10. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
11. American crow (voice)
12. American robin
13. Hermit thrush (voice)
14. Yellow warbler
15. Ruby-throated hummingbird (voice)
16. Alder flycatcher (voice)
17. Song sparrow (voice)
18. Blue jay (voice)
19. Wood thrush (voice)
20. Nashville warbler (voice)
21. Eastern bluebird
22. Savannah sparrow
23. American redstart (voice)
24. Field sparrow (voice)
25. Eastern phoebe
26. Tufted titmouse (voice)
27. Chipping sparrow (voice)
28. Wild turkey
Elsewhere
29. House finch
30. House sparrow
31. European starling
32. Red-winged blackbird
33. Common grackle
34. Rock pigeon
35. Mourning dove
36. White-breasted nuthatch
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common grackle, common yellowthroat, eastern bluebird, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, European starling, field sparrow, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, ovenbird, red-winged blackbird, rock pigeon, ruby-throated hummingbird, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, wild turkey, wood thrush, yellow warbler
