Hillside.
Today turned out to be a mild, warmish day with a gentle overcast. Warmish for the season, anyway. Crows hung around my place, as usual, and I heard a hairy woodpecker up the back hill. Also saw a sparrow of some kind flit across into some bushes—could not get an ID.
Sundown.
I spent most of the day writing. Successfully, kind of joyfully, even. Making stuff up. Like play.
Then it came time for my hike with Jack. As I pulled on a hooded sweatshirt, I wondered if that might be overdoing things, but I wasn’t. Warmish for the season, but still chilly. One other vehicle in the parking lot. We hopped out of the truck and stood for a moment at the parking lot, so I could listen for birds. Heard a brown creeper right away. Also heard the squeals and shouts of kids playing up at Beech Nut.
A swift hike up. From down the southern slope, I heard a flicker first, then a robin. Also kids squealing and shouting up at Beech Nut.
The kids were with a their parents—two of their parents—whom, as it happens, I knew. We had a nice, if brief, conversation before Jack and I headed back down.
Red fields still. Still a handful of leaves on the hardwoods. The setting sun looked like it might poke through the overcast, but it never quite succeeded. Heard a few chickadees down toward the road.
Birch.
Tonight is clearer, but there’s still a haze around the moon.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 3:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Brown creeper (voice)
2. Northern flicker (voice)
3. American robin (voice)
4. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
Elsewhere
5. American crow
6. Hairy woodpecker
7. Herring gull
Tags: American crow, American robin, black-capped chickadee, brown creeper, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, northern flicker
