7 November 2026

Gathering spring

Saturday, April 21st, 2012
Black-capped chickadee, Beech Hill, Rockport, Maine, 21 April 2012.

Black-capped chickadee.

Rain early, then fog and chill. Worked inside all day, then got out with dog late for our Beech Hill hike. The sun made a surprise appearance as we traipsed around the hill, peeping in and out.

American robin, Beech Hill, Rockport, Maine, 21 April 2012.

American robin.

Plenty of April birds up there. Chickadees in droves. Towhees calling from many places (none yet singing, though). The song of a hermit thrush.

Ferns are fast rising. Little light green aspen leaves are beginning to color the hillsides.

A solitary robin sang from a perch on a low Beech Nut wall.

Nothing too dramatic. A gobbling turkey, an overflying duck. But from the smell of the air and new shade in the woodland, you can tell that spring is gathering.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:15 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.

1. Black-capped chickadee*
2. American robin*
3. Mourning dove (v)*
4. Herring gull (v)*
5. Eastern phoebe*
6. Eastern towhee
7. Hermit thrush (v)
8. Northern flicker (v)
9. Northern cardinal (v)*
10. Wild turkey (v)*
11. Hairy woodpecker (v)
12. American goldfinch (v)*
13. American crow (v)*
14. Mallard*

Elsewhere

15. Tufted titmouse (v)
16. House finch (v)
17. European starling
18. Ring-billed gull
19. Common loon

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere

Young ferns, Beech Hill, Rockport, Maine, 21 April 2012.

Young ferns.

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Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson



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