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February 7th, 2011
 Sinking sun. A rollicking, busy, thawy morning. The snowfall had sunk an inch or two since yesterday, I’d guess, and had gotten denser. Icicles had fallen, and I knocked a couple giant remnants off the eaves. Sunlight splashed the landscape, and the temperature rose quickly to freezing and above.
 Beech Hill. And that, perhaps, is what got the birds going. Chickadees frolicking out back, titmice singing deedle-deedle-deedle! Crows seemingly everywhere. House sparrows making a racket across the road. And a solitary goldfinch delivering its distincive, sweeping, sugary call that reminds me a little of a slide guitar.
Monday is Monday is a busy day. Not bad, just busy. Still, it took until later this afternoon for Jack and me to extricate ourselves from the home place and make our way out into the world. Errands in town—two species of gull and a swooping flock of pigeons—then a quick drive on up to Beech Hill.
I recognized the single vehicle in the parking lot as belonging to Joe, the hill steward. The snow seemed packed and manageable, so I blew off my snowshoes, and dog and I started right up. Many, many chickadees flitting and calling among the trees. Warm enough, not much wind. We made our way briskly up the hill.
 Beech Nut arch. The sky had a number of interesting clouds in it. The sun was heading down behind some of them—or, more accurately, the planet was spinning up. The ripply, snowy hillsides had weeds poking through. About half-way up, I heard the cry of a flicker.
Met Joe at the summit, measuring things. He’d gone up on cross-country skis. We chatted a bit, and then he had to head down—which he did, rapidly, as Jack whined and cried out of desire to be moving so fast. Once he settled down, we started our descent at our usual pace. I heard crows calling from the periphery.
 Beech Nut. Another nice Beech Hill hike. Just about every hike there is a nice hike—I daresay, every one. We got back down, headed home. Scanned for the reported Clam Cove red-shouldered hawk but didn’t see it.
Tonight the sky has clouded over. I hear rumors of more snow on the way overnight..
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 3:45 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Black-capped chickadee
2. Northern flicker (voice)
3. American crow (voice)
Elsewhere
4. Tufted titmouse
5. House sparrow
6. American goldfinch
7. Herring gull
8. Ring-billed gull
9. Rock pigeon
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, herring gull, house sparrow, northern flicker, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, tufted titmouse
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February 6th, 2011
 Hidden sun. Thanks to last night’s wet snow—and the light rain that followed—a whole new landscape greeted me today. Last week’s drifts had lessened noticeably, and sogginess oozed from everywhere.
 Kite. Around my place were the usual crows, a pair of titmice singing dueling love songs, a few chickadees passing through, and the chirps of house sparrows across the road. Plenty of sun, though, and temperatures a bit above freezing, so I took the opportunity to shovel away the film of new snow. A little worried about ice underfoot—but not that worried.
Worked on a Sunday (again), but tore myself away late in the day. Grabbed my dog, my snowshoes, my camera, etc., and headed up Powerhouse Hill.
The Beech hill parking lot was empty—but two cars were parked along the road. We blasted into the lot, I donned my snowshoes, and we commenced to crunching up the wet, crusty trail. A couple of hikers were walking the road to the gate, and a pair of kite-flyers were sailing a sort of green parachute thing about half-way up. The hillsides had transformed from flawless white sheets to lumpy, ripply slopes. Jack and I crunched up the trail with a purpose.
 Beech Nut. Most remarkable this afternoon was the look of the sun behind a wide clump of western clouds. I heard no small birds. I saw no hawk or raven or crow. I did hear a crow, though—the only bird on my Beech Hill list today.
Without stopping we reached Beech Nut and circled it and headed back down. Met the hiking couple (whom we’d passed while ascending) and noticed the kite-flyers wrapping things up. We descended into a brisk west wind. The inland hills stood mute and dark before us. No need for gloves or sweatshirt hood. A good, quick, pulse-quickening hike.
Coming back home, I noticed a couple herring gulls soaring over Clam Cove. And tonight, a crescent new moon descended beyond the bare oak branches. Saturn hung not very far away.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 3:45 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American crow (voice)
Elsewhere
2. Tufted titmouse
3. Black-capped chickadee
4. House sparrow
5. Herring gull
 Ripply snow.
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, herring gull, house sparrow, tufted titmouse
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February 5th, 2011
 Bay sky. The day started cold and sunny. I even heard reports of sea smoke on the bay. But the sun warmed the air as the day progressed, and by mid-morning I was shoveling out my pickup bed, the better to run Saturday errands. A titmouse called out back. Crows chased a red-tailed hawk. House sparrows chirped from across the road. I even heard a starling’s voice from somewhere.
 Hairy woodpecker. Trip to the dump and the bottle redemption center—where I ran into Jack’s first foster mom (they got to visit each other)—and then on over to Beech Hill.
We chose the wooded trail today. It seemed the perfect day for it—warm, bright, with a remnant substantial snowfall for winter hiking. It took some acceleration to get into the parking lot, but we managed. (Another vehicle arrived soon after but thought better of even trying.) Others had snowshoed this trail before us, and we were happy for the pack.
That is, until a couple hundred yards in, when our predecessors had apparently given up and turned back. The rest of our climb along the upper trail required a little effort.
Make that a lot of effort. I suspect snowshoeing up a virgin trail requires three or four times the effort than does a simple summer hike. Jack soon decided to follow me, and we both ended up panting like crazy. But the tracks of animals caught my attention: many, many rabbits, plenty of voles and mice, gray and red squirrels, and even a larger mammal—fox? coyote? bobcat? It had apparently just plodded along, not going very fast, so I couldn’t be sure.
 Rabbit tracks. A hairy woodpecker hammered away above us. Kinglets called from the trees. Small gangs of chickadees flitted by. A raven croaked from somewhere. And as we reached the open fields, eleven crows flapped across the sky, cawing. I watched the crows for some time. They made a lot of noise. At one point they all took off toward the north, making a considerable racket. I suspect they were chasing a raptor.
We made the top eventually and turned back down. Considering a cross-country skier had gone before us, our descent down the lower trail was comparatively easy (though still more difficult than mere walking). We got back to the truck a little more than an hour after we set off, both feeling like we’d really accomplished something.
About mid-afternoon, thick clouds moved over. By nightfall, it’d begun to snow. Light, wet snow—a contrast to our recent storms. And later still, when I stepped out onto the deck, I’m pretty sure it was raining.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 12:15 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Hairy woodpecker
2. Golden-crowned kinglet (voice)
3. American crow
4. Black-capped chickadee
5. Common raven
Elsewhere
6. Tufted titmouse
7. European starling
8. Red-tailed hawk
9. Herring gull
10. Rock pigeon
11. Ring-billed gull
 American crow.
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, common raven, European starling, golden-crowned kinglet, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, red-tailed hawk, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, tufted titmouse
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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