Mount Desert.
Monday on a Tuesday. I heard a lot of rain overnight and figured it’d be a wet day, so I had great plans to get plenty done. Didn’t exactly turn out that way. Calls, requests, unexpected dialogs, crazy hardware issues. And then the sun came out. And by early afternoon, I figured a bike ride was in order.
Eastern towhee (female).
Nice ride. A little breeze from the north that gave me a bit of a lift, south-bound. Sun coming in and out. Rode fast. Perhaps the nicest moment happened as I was coming along a straight, wild stretch of Route 1 when, just as the sun emerged, I heard the cry of an osprey just above me. Leaned back and watched the big handsome bird veer in circles, declaring its existence to the world.
By the end of the day, clouds had overspread most of the sky. After taking care of a couple errands, Jack and I embarked our daily Beech Hill excursion. Soon after we hopped out of the pickup, I heard chickadees. Not fifty feet from the parking lot, where they were poking around, we stopped so I could check for an entourage. Right away I saw other little silent species flitting about. A ruby-crowned kinglet flitted very near. A black-and-white warbler skittered up a tree trunk—then zipped up to a branch not six feet above me. It was too dark in the trees, though, and backlit, and I couldn’t even focus on the birds. But I also heard a titmouse behind me and the voices of goldfinch and a waxwing from somewhere. A half dozen birds already.
Coming up the first stretch of the main trail, more chickadees. We stopped again. Up in the trees with them were two or three alder flycatchers perching, fluttering up to catch flies, returning to their perches. One of these fluttered above us here, there, there—it must’ve caught four or five before returning. Also heard a white-throated sparrow and a catbird and a yellowthroat and a towhee and a crow. And a blue jay flew directly over us, jeering at them all.
Alder flycatcher.
Thirteen species within a stone’s throw of Beech Hill Road.
Heard the chip of a savannah sparrow in the grass very near the trail. Jack and I must’ve stood there for two or three minutes, but I never did spot the bird. I did hear a pewee calling from the woods down the southern slope behind me.
Then, descending down into the blackberry regions, I heard a rustling in the undergrowth—and a sort of urgent cheep! cheep! cheep! Suddenly a grouse burst up and hurried up onto a tree limb about twenty or thirty yards away. I thought I might get a photo, but then another grouse took wing. Still heard cheeping in the brush, so we stayed there until yet a third bird flew. (I think there was a fourth in there also.)
Returning up and over, I heard the note of a song sparrow. And turning out of the parking lot, the sharp chip! of a cardinal.
Eighteen species. Way more than during any recent hike up there. A large day, I’d say.
Spruces.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:45 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Black-capped chickadee
2. Ruby-crowned kinglet
3. Black-and-white warbler
4. Tufted titmouse (voice)
5. American goldfinch (voice)
6. Cedar waxwing
7. Alder flycatcher
8. Blue jay
9. Eastern towhee
10. American crow
11. White-throated sparrow
12. Common yellowthroat (voice)
13. Gray catbird
14. Savannah sparrow (voice)
15. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
16. Ruffed grouse
17. Song sparrow (voice)
18. Northern cardinal (voice)
Elsewhere
19. Herring gull
20. Song sparrow
21. Mourning dove
22. Osprey
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, osprey, ruby-crowned kinglet, ruffed grouse, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-throated sparrow
