Yellow-bellied sapsucker (juvenile).
Just after a soaking rain is a good time to go birding. Scattered showers passed through all day—including at least one good cloudburst—but at the end of it, just as Jack and I prepared to take a muddy hike, the sky cleared and the sun emerged. Nice. As we started up the drippy Beech Hill trail, a chickadee sang fee-bee! After yesterday’s miss on the woodcock, I took it as a good sign.
Downy woodpecker (male).
Conveniently, after an early spring rain, last fall’s leaves, being soggy, go quiet underfoot. You can sort of sneak up on things. Not that we thought of that, really, being more intent on speed. Heard a few common birds while ascending. Flushed a ruffed grouse. I got a good look at the partridge as it raced noisily away through the leafless hardwoods.
We met no one at the sunny-wet summit. Water droplets pit-patted from the eaves of Beech Nut. The clouds rose in dramatic relief.
Returning, just as we took the fork down the lower trail, I heard something. We stopped. There it was. Purple finch. Also chickadees. Then something else—a singing brown creeper, its little jumble of happy notes echoing in the trees. I heard a rapping. A hairy woodpecker. Nearby, two creepers zipped from trunk to trunk, spiraling up, pecking at the bark. Then I heard the strident beep-beep-beep! of a white-breasted nuthatch. Suddenly a woodpecker flitted up onto the limb of a tree right in front of us. A young yellow-bellied sapsucker. While grabbing some photos, it occurred to me that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a sapsucker up there. Then a downy woodpecker appeared in a tree a little farther away whose trunk was dark from the rain.
Peckers all around us. We must’ve stood there for ten minutes, just watching all the bark-loving birds. Or at least I was. When I looked down at Jack, he was watching me.
Hairy woodpecker (female).
Back d0wn by the parking lot, I heard the voice of a phoebe, then the song of a house finch. I like living in a place where a short walk in the woods can get you serenaded by multiple finch species—and where you can watch three kinds of woodpeckers while simply standing still.
Tonight, I hear frogs. Spring peepers. A damp, clear April night. Just the way it’s supposed to be.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:15 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Black-capped chickadee
2. Herring gull (voice)
3. American crow
4. American goldfinch (voice)
5. Ruffed grouse
6. American robin
7. Hairy woodpecker
8. Tufted titmouse (voice)
9. Purple finch (voice)
10. Brown creeper
11. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
12. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
13. Downy woodpecker
14. Eastern phoebe (voice)
15. House finch (voice)
Elsewhere
16. Blue jay
17. Song sparrow
18. Northern cardinal
19. House sparrow
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, brown creeper, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, northern cardinal, purple finch, ruffed grouse, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, yellow-bellied sapsucker
