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Posts Tagged ‘magnolia warbler’
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
 Northern parula. Today was unlike the last two in one notable way: lower cloud-cover. Still soggy, still drippy. But not much visibility out there, and the foghorns sounded all day.
Still a house finch and a house sparrow in the neighborhood. And crows. A ruby-throat feeding on the purple flowers out front, and a titmouse in the oaks out back. But I never left the building—not until after 5, when Jack and I set out for our daily Beech Hill hike. As we descended the back stairs, I heard the peent! of a woodcock.
 Ferns unfurling. Not a busy parking lot. No birdsong in the still, foggy air. But sounds there were: the rush of traffic off toward the east, the rattle of a gas-powered generator out there somewhere, an ambulance screaming down Route 1. Droplets fell from the trees like rain. Slugs on the trail. I finally heard my first bird while coming around the curve by the brook—a towhee. There’ll always be towhees.
An ovenbird called in the deeper woods. As usual, I heard the cries of herring gulls in the direction of the little cow farm. But no warblers flitted through the canopy that I could see. No birds at all that I could see until we’d already neared the top of the trail, when a male yellowthroat jumped up into view along the trail. Heard the calls of chickadees. Heard the song of a robin.
At the upper fields, the fog lay thick and white. More yellowthroats chipping in the brush. I heard the crazy phrases of a catbird and the distant chimes of a song sparrow. Finally spotted the second bird of the day—a robin, flying through the fog across the field.
 Savannah sparrow. We paused. Caught sight of a catbird. Saw another yellowthroat. Heard a savannah sparrow. Then a nice surprise: a wood thrush singing off in the stand of trees north of the summit. (Wood thrushes must like that area—I’ve heard their songs there at least the past two years.) A flicker cried from somewhere. As we moved slowly along the edge of the field, I heard the chips of what might’ve been yellow-rumps. Then a higher, sweeter chip, and I saw a pair of warblers fluttering toward us through the new leaves of an apple tree. They fluttered madly about, hardly stopping. I got a good look at one—it was the same bird I’d seen the other day down the upper wooded trail, with wing bars and a bright yellow breast. But this time I recognized it as a female northern parula.
Beech Nut loomed in a cloud. Saw the savannah bouncing around the wet grass. Heard more song sparrows.
Coming back down along the field, we walked slowly, and I managed to spot a couple yellow-rumps. The catbird sang still, and a couple juncos. Then, entering the muddy lower trail, I heard the magical voice of a hermit thrush—a song that seemed made for a close, rather eerie day like this one.
 Eastern towhee. I hadn’t expected much today, but my list was growing. Heard the song of a chestnut-sided warbler off in the drippy trees. Then, nearing the vernal pool, I heard a chickadee very near us. As we stopped to look for it, I noticed a few warblers moving low in the understory. The first was a black-and-white, the second was a magnolia. Both were feeding ravenously, neither was calling.
Then I heard the note of a veery and thought—it really was a thrushy kind of day.
Took a peek at the phoebe nest and saw a beak and tail. Then, at the parking lot, I recognized the song of a purple finch coming from across the road. That made twenty-one species up there today. Had you suggested I’d top my total from the last couple days, I’d have likely called you crazy.
Back home, I saw one of the nesting nuthatches sweeping off their dooryard. I heard the song of the resident cardinal. An ovenbird called, and I watched one of the neighborhood crows fly furtively away toward its roost. Up in the greening maple was a little bird—a silent warbler. But what species? As I watched, it slowly approached, finally reaching a branch not six feet above my head. It was a chestnut-sided. A female.
 Trail through the oaks. Out there tonight the trees are dripping. And I still hear foghorns.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:30 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Eastern towhee
2. Ovenbird (voice)
3. Herring gull (voice)
4. White-throated sparrow (voice)
5. Black-capped chickadee
6. Common yellowthroat
7. American robin
8. Gray catbird
9. Song sparrow (voice)
10. Savannah sparrow
11. Wood thrush (voice)
12. Northern flicker (voice)
13. Northern parula
14. Yellow-rumped warbler
15. Hermit thrush (voice)
16. Chestnut-sided warbler (voice)
17. Black-and-white warbler
18. Veery (voice)
19. Magnolia warbler
20. Eastern phoebe
21. Purple finch (voice)
Elsewhere
22. House finch
23. House sparrow
24. Ruby-throated hummingbird
25. Tufted titmouse
26. American woodcock
27. Mourning dove
28. Northern cardinal
29. White-breasted nuthatch
Tags: American robin, American woodcock, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, chestnut-sided warbler, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, magnolia warbler, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, northern parula, ovenbird, purple finch, ruby-throated hummingbird, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, wood thrush, yellow-rumped warbler
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Saturday, May 14th, 2011
 Ovenbird. I rose with the daylight to leave myself time for breakfast before my bird walk at Pleasant Point Nature Preserve in Cushing, a Georges River Land Trust property. I’d never been to the preserve—65-acres of mixed woodland donated by many landowners to keep it forever wild—and it was a nice little plot of land. Implausibly, a couple dozen people showed up, including (thankfully) my expert birding friends Don and Douglas (each, I daresay, more expert than I).
 Least flycatcher. En route down the peninsula, I saw several active birds, among them a (first-of-year) mockingbird in Thomaston. Arrived about a half-hour early to find Douglas and Don there already. A gray day. A couple of magnolia warblers were calling from the road. A junco trilling in the distance. A yellowthroat nearby.
Once everyone had gathered, we started down the freshly blazed trails. We heard the songs of a number of warblers—black-throated green, ovenbird, parula, black-and-white—and Don called a few in with his iPad, giving everyone some good looks. Blue-headed vireos also responded. A loon flew over, and an osprey. Also a raven. We caught a glimpse of a hermit thrush and heard a blackburnian warbler (my first of the year). We could hear geese. And we got a nice look at a hairy woodpecker. I think everyone enjoyed it. The GLRT has some great people doing good work.
Right away on my return, I grabbed Jack (who had waited at home), and we headed for Beech Hill. Despite the late hour, it proved a fruitful hike. Many warblers calling. Got a decent photo of a least flycatcher—and of a couple ovenbirds. I love ovenbirds. They’re declarative, but secretive. They’re feisty, but shy. You can hear them just about anywhere in the Maine woods in season, but it’s uncommon to see them.
 Common yellowthroat. The ringtone on my cell phone is the call of an ovenbird.
After our fruitful hike, coming back down the lower wooded trail, I heard crows harassing a raven. And I caught a glimpse of a large, lumbering shape off beneath the trees—a woodchuck, apparently leaping away from a trunk. I’d never before seen a woodchuck up there.
About half-way down, we’d stopped so I could look at a vireo (thinking it might be a first red-eyed, but it wasn’t), when both dog and I heard the soft beats of wings above us and looked up to see an osprey flying over from behind us, low to the canopy.
This evening, I stepped out before the rain for some air and spotted a couple small dull-colored birds hopping about the trunk of one of the big oaks out back. Sparrows? Thrushes? Ovenbirds? I snuck in for my binoculars and took a closer look: thrushes. But not hermit thrushes (no hint of rust on their tails, nor any tail-wagging) nor veeries (too many splotches on their breasts). They were a plain olive tone but had interesting facial markings with distinctive buffy cheeks. I had a thought and looked them up in Sibley’s. They were Swainson’s thrushes. A life bird for me.
 Woodchuck. In evening, after it began raining lightly, again I heard the flight song of a woodcock.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 11 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Ovenbird
2. Common yellowthroat
3. Black-throated green warbler
4. Eastern phoebe
5. American crow
6. Northern parula
7. Chestnut-sided warbler
8.Rose-breasted grosbeak
9. Song sparrow
10. Least flycatcher
11. Eastern towhee
12. American redstart
13. Black-and-white warbler
14. Herring gull
15. Veery
16. Yellow warbler
17. Black-capped chickadee
18. White-throated sparrow
19. Blue jay
20. Gray catbird
21. Savannah sparrow
22. Field sparrow
23. American robin
24. Hairy woodpecker
25. Blue-headed vireo
26. Mourning dove
27. Magnolia warbler
28. American goldfinch
29. Turkey vulture
30. Common raven
31. Hermit thrush
32. Great crested flycatcher
33. Nashville warbler
34. Osprey
Pleasant Point Nature Preserve List
Beginning at 7:30 a.m., I hung around the trails.
White-throated sparrow
Ovenbird
35. Dark-eyed junco
Magnolia warbler
Black-and-white warbler
Blue jay
Common yellowthroat
Nashville warbler
Osprey
American crow
Herring gull
36. Common loon
Black-throated green warbler
Mourning dove
Common raven
Northern parula
Chestnut-sided warbler
Hermit thrush
37. Canada goose
Blue-headed vireo
38. Blackburnian warbler
American robin
39. Hairy woodpecker
American goldfinch
Elsewhere
40. House finch
41. Northern cardinal
42. Common eider
43. Northern mockingbird
44. Double-crested cormorant
45. Common grackle
46. Red-winged blackbird
47. Ring-billed gull
48. European starling
49. Rock pigeon
50. Swainson’s thrush
51. American woodcock
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blackburnian warbler, blue jay, blue-headed vireo, Canada goose, chestnut-sided warbler, common eider, common grackle, common loon, common raven, common yellowthroat, dark-eyed junco, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, European starling, field sparrow, gray catbird, great crested flycatcher, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, least flycatcher, magnolia warbler, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, northern mockingbird, northern parula, osprey, ovenbird, red-winged blackbird, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, rose-breasted grosbeak, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, Swainson's thrush, turkey vulture, veery, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler
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Friday, May 13th, 2011
 Black-throated green warbler. Up early. Clear morning. A bit warmer than yesterday.
Jack and I got to Beech Hill about 7. Sunlight was streaming through the sugarbush, and warblers were singing. Lots of warblers. For a while, in fact, we simply stood there at the edge of the parking lot, and I counted like crazy. The voices of at least eight wood warblers mixed together, along with the gobble of a turkey, the cry of a flicker, and the scream of a herring gull. Also a blue-headed vireo. And a crow. Standing there, I soon realized that black flies might be a problem—they were thick and swarming.
 Chestnut-sided warbler. I gotta confess: it was pretty exciting.
Coming around the first curve, I heard the distinctive chi-bek! of a least flycatcher—then caught sight of the little bird about half-way up a poplar. First-of-year species.
Plenty more birds coming up the trail.The usual towhees and chickadees, a couple of grosbeaks, a veery. (Turkeys seemed particularly active—I heard them gobbling from three places on the hill.) Catbird, yell0w-rumps, sparrows. A group of cormorants flew over in formation as we reached the upper fields. No kestrel today, but coming down the open trail I spotted three turkey vultures soaring over the western slope.
About half-way down, a pair of tree swallows zipped up and began to circle us. They flew very near. Tree swallows are the best flyers, in my opinion, and I desperately wished for a photo—but you just can’t photograph a flying tree swallow. Or I suppose you can, but it’d take a long, long time. Like, days. So I simply stood there and enjoyed their seeming interest in dog and me. They must’ve circled us for a full minute before sailing away to the north across the fields.
 Magnolia warbler. Then, in a little trail-side birch, I heard a black-throated green warbler singing. We walked slowly up, and I got some great looks at the little bird. It was plucking small caterpillars from the branches. Our little insectivorous migrants love them some caterpillars, that’s for sure.
Down toward the Beech Hill Road parking lot, as I was looking to photograph a catbird, suddenly I heard the loud song of a parula behind me. Turned slowly, and the bird was right there. By far the closest I’d ever been to a parula. Too near, in fact, for a decent photograph—especially since those little guys barely stop moving at all.
At the parking lot itself, I heard my first redstart of the year, then saw the bird—an adult male—singing from high in the canopy. And returning, I somehow managed to get a brilliantly feathered magnolia warbler in my sights. (Another first-of-year bird.) Then a couple little sparrows flitted over into the blueberries not far away. A pair of chippies.
We’d spent a lot of time on the hill already, so I picked up the pace on our way back up and over. Down in the eastern fields, I noticed three or four crows perched in the top of a tree and all cawing together. Looked up, and there was a broad-winged hawk soaring in a lazy circle, occasionally emitting its high, thin scree! Coming down the wooded trail, I heard a great crested flycatcher and a pileated woodpecker and—in a nice surprise—a wood thrush. First wood thrush of the year.
Nearing the end of our trip, a couple of sparrows jumped up into a bush near the edge of the trail, and we stopped. Swamp sparrows. Very near the place I saw one a week or so ago.
 Northern parula. The day warmed, and in mid-afternoon I rode my bicycle. The most notable sighting? Common grackles flying out toward the back of a residential care facility toward town. Saw them both coming and going.
Once I compiled my list, I saw that I topped fifty birds today for the first time in 2011. What a great birding day.
Tonight is cool and clear. Tomorrow morning I lead a bird walk in Cushing. It’s supposed to cloud up. I hope we beat the rain—could be a fruitful excursion.
Addendum: at 10:10 p.m., I stepped out to look at the moon and heard the flight song of an American woodcock.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Ovenbird (voice)
2. Northern parula
3. Chestnut-sided warbler
4. Eastern phoebe
5. Common yellowthroat
6. Black-and-white warbler
7. Wild turkey (voice)
8. Northern flicker (voice)
9. Black-throated green warbler
10. Herring gull (voice)
11. Nashville warbler (voice)
12. Black-throated blue warbler
13. American crow
14. Blue-headed vireo
15. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
16. American goldfinch (voice)
17. Least flycatcher
18. Rose-breasted grosbeak (voice)
19. Black-capped chickadee
20. Tufted titmouse (voice)
21. Veery (voice)
22. Gray catbird
23. Eastern towhee
24. White-throated sparrow
25. Hermit thrush
26. Song sparrow
27. Blue jay (voice)
28. Yellow-rumped warbler
29. Double-crested cormorant
30. American robin
31. Savannah sparrow
32. Yell0w warbler (voice)
33. Tree swallow
34. Turkey vulture
35. Field sparrow (voice)
36. Downy woodpecker
37. Chipping sparrow
38. Mourning dove
39. American redstart
40. Magnolia warbler
41. Broad-winged hawk
42. Great crested flycatcher (voice)
43. Pileated woodpecker (voice)
44. Wood thrush (voice)
45. Swamp sparrow
Elsewhere
46. House finch
47. House sparrow
48. European starling
49. Rock pigeon
50. Common grackle
51. Northern cardinal
52. American woodcock
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, blue-headed vireo, broad-winged hawk, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common grackle, common yellowthroat, double-crested cormorant, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, European starling, field sparrow, gray catbird, great crested flycatcher, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, least flycatcher, magnolia warbler, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, northern flicker, northern parula, ovenbird, pileated woodpecker, rock pigeon, rose-breasted grosbeak, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, swamp sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, wild turkey, wood thrush, yellow warbler, yellow-rumped warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
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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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