Hurricane’s a-coming, or so I hear. Should be here in three-four days, if the prognostications prove accurate. Meanwhile, another nippy kind of day—although not quite as nippy as yesterday. Highs in the 70s (F). Plenty of sun, and none of yesterday’s sprinkles. Found myself chained to the ol’ desk until about  mid-afternoon, when I couldn’t resist taking a spirited bike ride. I’d seen beforehand that the wind was whipping and so had steeled myself. Was a good workout. Not bad at all.

What made it even better was the occurrence of a few extra birds: pigeons, black-backed gull, osprey. Crows along the roadsides. Chickadees, goldfinches, doves. My rear tire’s still got issues, but I made it back without having to change a tube.

And the wind was still a-whipping when Jack and I headed to Beech Hill. En route, I saw a red-tailed hawk alight atop a roadside tree.

Soon we were ascending. Goldfinch, waxwing, chickadee, crow—but I couldn’t hear much else with the rush of the wind in the thick summer foliage, and most species remain shy, so I didn’t see many. I did spot a pair of gulls sailing out toward the bay. But mostly what I saw were flying insects. A few butterflies and dragonflies, a couple bees, a grasshopper. Jack had stopped to do his business when the grasshopper jumped out and lit on a twig. I hadn’t seen one in years up there, if ever.

But you can see plenty of dragonflies these days. And butterflies (although they do seem to be declining some). And it occurred to me, suddenly, why so many of my birding friends also go winged-insect-spotting in these quieter days. They’re more visible, more apparent than birds just now. And colorful—spectacular, even, some of them. I don’t know insects well, but maybe I can learn.

Returning, nearing the end of our hike, I heard more chickadees in the little roadside wood and stopped to scan. So often other species will hang out with chickadees, and sure enough I saw a little brown bird low in the brush not far from the wood-edge. Got a fairly decent look at its reddish cap and light-colored bill—a young field sparrow, I’m pretty sure.

Oddly, it was the only sparrow I saw up there today. In fact, I ended up with only six birds on my Beech Hill list today, same number as on my “Elsewhere” list. Unusual.

Heard a particularly loud cicada right before my bike ride. And just now a chorus of crickets under a starry sky. I wonder where the insects go when a hurricane blows through. I suppose they just grab onto something and cling.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.

1. American goldfinch (voice)
2. Cedar waxwing
3. Black-capped chickadee
4. American crow (voice)
5. Herring gull
6. Field sparrow

Elsewhere

7. Rock pigeon
8. House sparrow
9. Great black-backed gull
10. Osprey
11. Mourning dove
12. Red-tailed hawk

Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, field sparrow, great black-backed gull, herring gull, house sparrow, mourning dove, osprey, red-tailed hawk, rock pigeon

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 24th, 2011 at 9:35 pm and is filed under Lists, Observations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.