Before bed last night, somewhat sheepishly, I pulled down a few storm windows, unconvinced that Tropical Storm Irene would hit us all that hard. But a time or two overnight I did awaken to the sound of heavy rain. This morning, though soggy, held only a cloying fog. Hardly a whiff of wind in the heavy, humid air.

After breakfast and a passing shower, figuring we’d take advantage of what (from the online weather radar) seemed a bit of a lull, I took Jack with me to Beech Hill. The sky beyond Clam Cove seemed to be brightening, but the hill was socked in. You could see maybe a hundred yards. Just a hint of of breeze. Right away I heard the voices of a goldfinch and a waxwing—as usual—and soon after, surprisingly, the sudden song of a common yellowthroat.

As we crested the rise in the trail, the wind picked up. You could hardly see a thing—I couldn’t even make out the shape of Beech Nut until we got very near. I marveled at how thick fog can persist even with a stout wind blowing like that. Just blowing the fog along, I guess. Over the hill, I heard the wind-blown caw of a crow. Then a catbird. Finally got a look at my first species of the day when a pair of waxwings flew over, calling.

Ate a few blackberries and blueberries then heard the note of a robin. It flitted into a tree above us, silhouetted against the gray sky. It and the waxwings would be the only birds I’d see up there.

We turned back and I felt a spattering of rain. The wind had gotten gusty, so we picked up our pace. Chickadee and cardinal rounded out today’s list.

It didn’t rain long, and then the wind began to blow. Not too awful strong—I’d guess gusts might’ve reached 40 or 50 miles an hour, tops—but the wind soon began to dry the landscape. Tonight, it’s blowing still. Not a hurricane-force blow, but a fairly big one.

Tomorrow’s supposed to be a sunny, breezy day.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 11:30 a.m., I hiked the open trail.

1. American goldfinch (voice)
2. Cedar waxwing
3. Eastern towhee (voice)
4. Common yellowthroat (voice)
5. American crow (voice)
6. Gray catbird (voice)
7. American robin
8. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
9. Northern cardinal (voice)

Elsewhere

10. Herring gull

Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, gray catbird, herring gull, northern cardinal

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 28th, 2011 at 10:00 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.