Blueberries.
A mostly gray, slightly sunny day. Humid and warm. Spent most all day hunting for something. Unsuccessfully. So instead I cleaned. And got a little work done.
Milkweed.
Did take a break for a good bike ride. However, I didn’t ID many birds—out of distraction maybe. Gulls, robins, song sparrows, cardinals, titmice. That’s about all I can remember. A blustery wind from the west sometimes turned a tad north, sometimes a tad south, which made for some nice climbs.
At about the usual time, I grabbed dog and we drove up to the wooded Beech Hill trail. Deer flies were crazy up there again today, and as I waved at them I imagined my hand as a deer tail. Most of the usual birds—no redstart, no grosbeak, no ovenbird—and an especially rich collection at the summit. Robins were calling and winging about. So was a little family of purple finches, apparently—flitting through the spruce grove. Song sparrows, phoebes, waxwings, yellowthroats. And I heard a field sparrow singing from down over the open slope. The forecast had called for a chance of thundershowers, and a high cloud rose in the southwest, but nothing came of it.
Returning, I happened to notice ripe blueberries along the trail. I’m not sure why, exactly, but it struck me as a momentous discovery. I ate three and gave Jack one.
Snake.
Coming down the lower wooded trail, the deerflies emerged again from nowhere. I had probably a half-dozen circling my head at any given time. No hermit thrush, but a chestnut-sided warbler sang. Briefly.
Back at the parking lot, just as we were about to hop into the truck, I caught sight of a tiny snake in the grass beside the parking lot. It was about as big around as a pencil and couldn’t have been more than eight inches long. I think it was a northern red-belly, but I’m not entirely sure.
Back home, I heard a couple titmice calling from the brush nearby and a redstart singing from across the road. Still muggy out, but nice. After all, we’ve got blueberries.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:15 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. Common yellowthroat
3. Mourning dove
4. Eastern towhee
5. American goldfinch
6. American crow
7. Cedar waxwing
8. American robin
9. Gray catbird
10. Song sparrow
11. Veery (voice)
12. Yellow warbler
13. Eastern phoebe
14. Purple finch
15. Alder flycatcher (voice)
16. Field sparrow (voice)
17. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
18. Chestnut-sided warbler (voice)
19. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
Elsewhere
20. House finch
21. House sparrow
22. Tufted titmouse
23. Herring gull
24. Northern cardinal
25. Double-crested cormorant
26. Great black-backed gull
27. American redstart
Western sky.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common yellowthroat, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, field sparrow, gray catbird, great black-backed gull, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, purple finch, red-eyed vireo, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, yellow warbler
