American kestrel.
For several straight days we’ve had cool, breezy conditions. Sometimes sunny, sometimes overcast, sometimes partly cloudy. Today began sunny and breezy and ended up overcast and breezy—although the breeze has subsided tonight, as breezes are wont to do.
Mourning dove.
Out and about, I saw and/or heard the usual species. During our solitary Beech Hill hike this afternoon, Jack and I heard mostly the wind in the bare branches (as we have nearly every day for the past week). The squeak and clatter. No chickadee, no robin, no crow. Heard gulls from down at the cow farm. Then, at the summit, as we emerged into the open fields, I stopped to scan for the kestrel I’d seen yesterday—and there it was. Or perhaps there was its mate, because a moment later, it took wing and soared over to another low perch, where a second kestrel waited.
Another mating pair—mourning doves—hung out in the branches of the overhanging oak just before twilight. And late this starless night I heard the peeps and burbles of a woodcock in flight.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 3:15 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Herring gull (voice)
2. American kestrel
Elsewhere
3. American crow
4. Northern cardinal
5. Song sparrow
6. House finch
7. House sparrow
8. Rock pigeon
9. Mallard
10. Great black-backed gull
11. Mourning dove
12. Black-capped chickadee
13. American robin
14. Turkey vulture
15. American woodcock
Tags: American crow, American kestrel, American robin, American woodcock, black-capped chickadee, great black-backed gull, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mallard, mourning dove, northern cardinal, rock pigeon, song sparrow, turkey vulture
