A cool, cloudless morning greeted us when dog and I started up the wooded trailhead. Quiet in the trees, though. Mostly the usual suspects calling, with the occasional apparent begging sounds young birds.
Many, many waxwings, though. Also many robins. A few vultures overhead—and a single bluebird perching in the sun, projecting its shadow on a leaf.
Billowy clouds came this hot afternoon. Tomorrow’s supposed to be overcast.
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:01 a.m. EST (8:01 DST), I hiked the all trails.
1. Black-capped Chickadee 2. Tufted Titmouse (v) 3. American Goldfinch 4. Downy Woodpecker (v) 5. Red-eyed Vireo** 6. Eastern Towhee 7. Hairy Woodpecker (v) 8. Eastern Wood-pewee (v) 9. American Crow* 10. White-breasted Nuthatch (v) 11. Brown Creeper (v) 12. Gray Catbird** 13. Alder Flycatcher (v) 14. American Robin* 15. Common Yellowthroat 16. Cedar Waxwing 17. Song Sparrow 18. Barn Swallow 19. Turkey Vulture 20. Blue Jay (v) 21. Eastern Bluebird 22. Northern Cardinal (v) 23. Yellow Warbler (v)
Elsewhere
24. Herring Gull
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
’Twas a cool and quiet morning when dog and I started up the wooded trailhead. A few bird vocalizations greeted us, but not a lot. Adults still talking to their young ’uns, mostly or, rarely, singing—or teaching their young ’uns the family tunes.
Fog at the summit, and dimness elsewhere early, so no award-winning photos, but a chickadee posed toward the end of our hike.
Later in the day the sun came out and giant billowy clouds rose above the bay.
Beech Hill List Starting at 6:58 a.m. EST (7:58 DST), I hiked all trails.
Dog and I hiked up through such a cool and breezy and luscious wood this morning. Also rather quiet. Birds don’t sing or call so much when they’ve got youngsters to raise (as I’ve certainly mentioned before), and the numbers were low this day—but what I heard and saw in the nearly silent trees (as usual) moved me.
Birds occupied the open summit and airy barrens also—but they were drowned out by the sound of machines. Noise, I should say. It’s a pet peeve, I must say—the horrible metallic whines and groans and growls and clanks and screeches of humanity. A plane flying low above, an annoyingly loud tractor across the valley.
If we humans are so smart and creative, how come we can’t engineer machines that make no noise—or at least very, very little? Too often I find myself yearning for quietude.
Some days aren’t so bad, though. Maybe tomorrow will be like that (it’s supposed to rain).
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:05 a.m. EST (8:05 DST), I hiked all trails.
1. Red-eyed Vireo (v) 2. Black-capped Chickadee 3. Tufted Titmouse 4. Downy Woodpecker 5. Northern Cardinal 6. American Goldfinch 7. Eastern Wood-pewee 8. White-breasted Nuthatch 9. Veery 10. Gray Catbird 11. Eastern Towhee 12. Alder Flycatcher 13. Mourning Dove 14. Cedar Waxwing 15. Song Sparrow 16. Common Yellowthroat 17. Barn Swallow 18. American Robin 19. Common Raven 20. Blue Jay
