Nice yard bird.

While cooking breakfast, I heard a commotion among my neighbors, the crows. I don’t know if you’d call it wisdom exactly, but given enough time and experience, turns out you can pretty well divine  cause-and-effect. The particular and pitch and tenor of the voices of the crows this morning said, to me, “hawk!” I threw on my bathrobe, grabbed my camera, headed for the back door.

Three seals.

I sort of stooped while approaching the double glass door to the deck, thinking I might catch a glimpse of something in the trees. What I saw right away was a wagging branch—the lowest-hanging branch of the maple overhanging the deck. My first thought was, Whoa, why would a crow come so close to the door? I leaned down a bit farther and saw that what had landed in the branch wasn’t a crow, it was a hawk. A thrill. Then within a split second I actually recognized the individual bird: it was the juvenile red-shouldered hawk I’d first seen three days ago a half-mile or so north of me, come to pay a visit.

I shot a few photos through the glass. Then the hawk flew southward, and I stepped outside to see it perched on a dead snag at the far corner of the parking lot. The crows had abandoned the cause, perhaps somehow knowing this young hawk preferred rodents—in fact, I’d also heard the half-hearted alarm calls of a white-breasted nuthatch in the oaks just above this scene—and I watched it sit and twist its head this way, that way, checking for a meal. It didn’t find one and flew low through the trees and over the shed next door. A handsome, serious-looking young bird.

After it flew away, I listened for a minute to a few chickadees chickadee-dee-deeing up the hill.

Great black-backed gull.

The day unfolded into a lovely one, with a hazy sun and warm temperatures. I saw one reading of 43 degrees (F). But because of circumstances beyond my control—well, OK, maybe I had some semblance of control initially—I ended up working at my desk through midday. But by about 2:30, I’d had it. I grabbed my camera and binocs and headed for the breakwater.

The parking lot was packed. The tide was rather low. Right away I spotted a few bunches of harbor seals hauled out on rocks on the island side. A pair of eiders, a couple common loons. The wind was light and came from the northwest. Clouds began to move in. I didn’t even have to wear my gloves Couples strolled hand-in-hand. Young women walked with their dogs. A gaggle of long-tailed ducks hoo-hahed  in the sun-splashed water on the harbor side. As I’ve seen its species do, a ring-billed gull flapped up and down the 15-foot wide line of granite blocks—so did a great black-back. I walked fast today. I saw buffleheads and a pair of black ducks in the protected cove near the seals.

After returning from the breakwater, I met up with my friend Kristen for a walk up Beech Hill. The sky had gone mostly overcast by then, though the sun glowed low in the western sky. Not very far up the trail, Kristen spotted a robin. Soon we heard, then saw, five or six of them flitting around in the bare hardwood canopy, silhouetted against the colorless sky.

High ground (Beech Hill).

I took Kristen off-trail where I’d walked the previous two days. It’s a nice hike, with a good long view of the bay. As we started up along a stone wall, I spotted a lone bird in a low tree about a hundred yards ahead of us. My first thought was shrike—and Kristen confirmed it. We watched the bird leave its snag and fly a good two hundred yards to the west, where we spotted it through fieldglasses high in a tree. I wanted a photo, so we started that way. But then it flew again, clear around to the south and then up near where we’d seen it in the first place. I turned and walked back in that direction. It flew again, I changed direction again. Flew again, changed direction.

I finally did get a half-way decent photo. First shrike I’ve seen in several years.

Then home again. A little tired and achy—and grateful for a wonderful day.

Today’s List

American crow
Red-shouldered hawk
White-breasted nuthatch
Black-capped chickadee
Downy woodpecker
Herring gull
Rock pigeon
Ring-billed gull
European starling
Common loon
Common eider
Long-tailed duck
Great black-backed gull
Bufflehead
Black duck
American robin
Northern shrike

Northern shrike.