This morning’s forecast rain arrived with a vengeance. Well, not a vengeance, exactly, but it postponed my hike with dog for a couple hours. Had no idea what to expect in the wake of the all that soaking rain—and yet there were birds.
Notable was the flyby of a croaking raven. Also a little flurry of species down in the woods again. Best photo was an immature male yellowthroat.
Beech Hill List Starting at 8:55 a.m. EST (9:55 DST), I hiked all trails.
1. Black-capped Chickadee** 2. Tufted Titmouse (v) 3. Blue Jay (v) 4. Northern Flicker 5. Red-eyed Vireo 6. Red-bellied Woodpecker (v) 7. Black-and-white Warbler 8. Chestnut-sided Warbler 9. American Crow* (v) 10. Eastern Wood-pewee (v) 11. White-breasted Nuthatch (v) 12. Eastern Towhee 13. Hermit Thrush 14. Gray Catbird** 15. Song Sparrow 16. American Goldfinch 17. Downy Woodpecker (v) 18. Common Raven 19. Cedar Waxwing 20. Common Yellowthroat
Elsewhere
21. Herring Gull 22. Mourning Dove 23. Ring-billed Gull (v) 24. Osprey 25. House Sparrow (v)
Mammals
American Red Squirrel (v)
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
A cool morning, with sun to start but clouds soon moving over and a bit of a breeze. Rain in the forecast, but it didn’t come while dog and I were hiking. However, the birds must’ve known a secret, because as our hike reached about its three-quarter mark, a sudden flood of species moved through the trees above us. And most of them were wood-warblers.
Chestnut-sided, redstart, parula, yellow-rump, black-and-white—it seemed like a little preview of a migratory fallout. With their quick flitting and the dim, gray conditions, it was hard to grab a decent photo. But here’s a pick of a singing Chestnut-sided Warbler.
Rain is forecast for much of tomorrow.
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:23 a.m. EST (8:23 DST), I hiked all trails.
Pretty sure the bird in the photo above is a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. I don’t see this species often—in fact, I believe my first Beech Hill sighting happened in early September last year—but this particular bird happened to pop up right in front of me as dog and I were moseying along the upper wooded trail. If you’re patient, and attentive, and have developed sort of fine-tuned observatory senses, every now and then you get a gift like this.
Beech Hill List Starting at 6:53 a.m. EST (7:53 DST), I hiked most trails.
