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Posts Tagged ‘magnolia warbler’
Saturday, September 25th, 2010
 Red-eyed vireo. Getting ready for a week out on Monhegan Island—a magical place during fall migration—beginning tomorrow, I didn’t make it to Beech Hill until just about the worst time of day for birding. Midday. Jack and I hit the trail at shortly after 1 p.m., and on a steamy, warm (not to say hot) day. However, coming up through the shady, breezy wooded trail, we came upon a diffuse band of wood warblers and vireos and chickadees. So many birds I didn’t know quite which tiny, silent flitting shape to train my field glasses on. All I could identify were chickadees and red-eyed vireos.
 Sumac. Not many birds were calling—towhees, catbirds, and blue jays, mostly—but a number were moving silently among the suddenly turning leaves. New mushrooms lined the wooded trails. Emerging into the open trail, though, we came upon not much besides a hot sun and a fickle breeze and plenty of sails out in the bay.
Returning down the lower wooded trail, we finally reached a place of activity: a blackberry thicket being combed over by various warblers. The high-pitched chip of a black-throated blue [pretty sure this was the unidentified bird from yesterday], the silence of a magnolia warbler, the telltale chip! of a yellow-rump. To shy and secretive for decent photos, turned out (although I thought I had a couple good ones lined up). But I got a great look at the last few wood-warblers.
We were a little relieved to get home to shade and water, Jack and I, where I was left with visions of shy, secretive warblers.
Looking forward to Monhegan tomorrow.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 1:15 p.m., I hiked all trails.
1. White-throated sparrow
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. Blue jay
4. Eastern towhee (voice)
5. Gray catbird (voice)
6. Savannah sparrow
7. Common yellowthroat (voice)
8. American crow
9. Red-eyed vireo
10. Black-throated blue warbler
11. Magnolia warbler
12. Yellow-rumped warbler
Elsewhere
13. White-breasted nuthatch
14. Herring gull
15. Rock pigeon
17. Northern cardinal
 Mushrooms.
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, blue jay, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, gray catbird, herring gull, magnolia warbler, northern cardinal, red-eyed vireo, rock pigeon, savannah sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
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Thursday, September 16th, 2010
 Eastern towhee. This morning for the first time in a while I wore a long-sleeved shirt on my Beech Hill hike with dog. Its hue just about matched the rufous sides of a towhee, or the first flush of fall-colored leaves. Sunny as can be, but chilly. With a fickle breeze.
Not much happening over our first ten or fifteen minutes up the wooded trail. A heck of a lot happening thereafter.
 Yellow-rumped warbler. There were chickadees off in the trees. There were goldfinches flying over. Crows cawing in the distance. The mew of a catbird. The chips of warblers. Many chips. Many warblers.
We stopped about half way up the trail, Jack and I, and must’ve stood there for fifteen minutes as a great flock of yellow-rumped warblers flitted about in the sunny leaves of the young scrubby trees in front of us. At least a dozen of them, I’d say. As I snapped photos, I heard other ‘rumps very close behind me. Like, three or four feet behind me. That’d be too close to focus, though, so I didn’t bother even to turn around.
Also from that spot I heard flickers calling from somewhere. Faintly. A subtle sort of wick-a, wick-a. And the clear tseet! of a white-throated sparrow. And the beep-beep-beep of a nuthatch. And, suddenly, a somewhat larger bird flitted up onto a bare twig in the sun—a junco. Huh. First one of those I’ve seen in a while. Kind of a portent of fall.
 Dark-eyed junco. The warblers were still flitting about when Jack and I decided to continue on up the trail. Emerging into the open fields, where the eastern sun flooded the sides of a stand of hardwoods, more yellow-rumps. Probably a dozen more. I counted a half-dozen in my view at one time, in fact. A catbird darted away in the undergrowth. Some larger, fairer-colored bird zipped around the trees—maybe a flycatcher, but I didn’t get a positive ID. The voice of what must’ve been a purple finch, which I just caught site of as it flew away. But mostly just warblers. And from what my binoculars told me, yellow-rumps all.
Reaching the last line of open trail before the summit, a similar story: the sun-soaked eastern sides of trees, a dozen or so yellow-rumped warblers chipping away. But this time there were other species, as well: vireos and white-throats and at least magnolia warbler. As I sat there releasing my shutter, I saw a moving shape out of the corner of my left eye and so moved my eye in that direction just in time to see a marsh hawk flying low and lazily maybe six feet over the trail ahead of me—maybe thirty feet away. That’s the closest I’ve ever been to a harrier.
 Magnolia warbler. It happened to fast for a photo, though. Anyway, I had plenty of tiny flitting subjects.
Not much in the spruce grove except a nice wind. No savannah sparrows that I could see. Jays in the periphery.
Coming back up and over I noticed a light-colored bird veering around near a hedgerow. It hopped up into view: an alder flycatcher, I’m sure. (Hard to ID these just from sight, but this was the area they nested this year.) And coming down the lower wooded trail, I heard the astonishingly loud notes of brown creepers and, lastly, the chuckling of a pileated woodpecker.
But I’ll remember this day for the yell0w-rumped warblers.
 Red-eyed vireo. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:15 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Black-capped chickadee
2. American goldfinch (voice)
3. American crow (voice)
4. Gray catbird (voice)
5. Eastern towhee
6. Yellow-rumped warbler
7. Northern flicker
8. White-throated sparrow
9. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
10. Dark-eyed junco
11. Purple finch
12. Song sparrow (voice)
13. Magnolia warbler
14. Red-eyed vireo
15. Northern harrier
16. Common yellowthroat
17. Blue jay (voice)
18. Alder flycatcher
19. Brown creeper (voice)
20. Pileated woodpecker (voice)
Elsewhere
21. Herring gull
22. Rock pigeon
23. Turkey vulture
 'Rump.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, brown creeper, common yellowthroat, dark-eyed junco, eastern towhee, gray catbird, magnolia warbler, northern flicker, northern harrier, pileated woodpecker, purple finch, red-eyed vireo, song sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
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Saturday, September 11th, 2010
 Song sparrow. Slept a little late waiting for the promised sunshine, but none appeared by the time Jack and I hit the trailhead at just about 8 a.m. Still, you could see blue sky, and the air seemed brighter than yesterday—if not much (if any) warmer. The aging green of the forest canopy swayed and whispered in a chilly morning breeze.
Right away I heard the note of a white-throated sparrow. Then a goldfinch flew over. Then the came the first chatterings of chickadees.
 Red-eyed vireo. It was around the curve in the trail near the big glacial boulder. We stopped, and I scanned the moving poplar crowns. Three or four chickadees in near constant movement, leaping to a twig and at once flipping upside-down beneath it, clinging and exploring the bark. And among them a couple duller birds. Warblers. I grabbed a couple quick photos of the first one, a faded magnolia. The second seemed different, and I trained my binocular on it: a parula. I tried for some photos but failed.
The usual catbirds mewing, towhees flitting, yellowthroats lurking mouse-like in the underbrush.
The sun did emerge as we got about half-way up the hill, and along an open section of the upper wooded trail where I’d recently seen silent warblers, we stopped despite no sign of chickadees. As soon as we did, a white-throat sounded the alarm from some thick growth behind us—and sure enough I spotted both a young chestnut-sided warbler and an adult red-eyed vireo darting about the leafy branches above us.
 Magnolia warbler. Generally not much commotion this morning. The wheep! of a couple towhees, perhaps a single yellowthroat’s popup song. The only reason I could count a crow today, in fact, is because I happened to see one flying over as we emerged alongside the first open field. Some jays in the distance. But otherwise, whispers—subtle chips and mews and, well, silence. Silence except for the sound of the wind in the foliage. Cloud shadows moved along the September slopes below.
A single, silent savannah sparrow. Some jays in the distance.
As we entered the lower wooded trail on our return trip, Jack and I, a gang of chickadees appeared and of course I scanned the dim understory. Another vireo—and a black-throated blue warbler. The same place I saw one a couple-three days ago. I might add, a silent black-throated blue.
Whispers in the woodland. Filtered sunlight illuminated acorns and mushrooms on the forest floor. The world seems to have gone a bit edge, a bit nervous in anticipation of fall.
 Forest floor. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. White-throated sparrow
2. American goldfinch
3. Black-capped chickadee
4. American robin (voice)
5. Gray catbird (voice)
6. Magnolia warbler
7. Northern parula
8. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
9. Red-eyed vireo
10. Chestnut-sided warbler
11. Eastern towhee
12. Song sparrow
13. American crow
14. Common yellowthroat
15. Cedar waxwing
16. Savannah sparrow
17. Blue jay (voice)
18. Black-throated blue warbler
19. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
Elsewhere
20. Herring gull
21. Rock pigeon
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, magnolia warbler, northern parula, red-eyed vireo, rock pigeon, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow
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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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