Sharp-shinned hawk, Beech Hill, Rockport, Maine, 03 October 2010.
The morning was sunny and still but cool enough to wear an insulated shirt for the first time since spring. Since it’d been a week since either Jack or I had hiked Beech Hill, we were both excited to check the trails. Right away, I saw they were covered with many more leaves then before, and the hardwoods—especially the low trees, like the sumac and small popple—were noticeably barer, offering a slightly longer view. From the periphery came the tseet! of a white-throated sparrow.
Yellow-rumped warbler.
Rounding the first curve in the trail, I heard the thin three-note calls of a couple golden-crowned kinglets. (They’re up there, of course, but I don’t see or hear them much, for some reason.) The birds were close. In fact, I looked up to see one not eight feet from me, poking about in the bark of a small aspen. Didn’t even have time to focus my camera before he was too high for a decent shot in the early morning dimness.
Mostly, though, our hike up was marked by the telltale chip notes of yell0w-rumped warblers. Waves of them, clouds of them. A couple expert birders on Monhegan the other day had been sure that this morning—with its combination of weather conditions and time of year—would be perfect for a fall-out of some kind, or at least a great influx of migratory species. Well, I’d say they were right about that. Or at least I can attest that it must be peak yellow-rump migration. They were everywhere. I’d say I saw and/or heard hundreds of the birds during our nearly two hours up there today.
Many other birds, too, but oddly few other warblers. A black-and-white and a couple yell0wthroats. But it was a nice surprise to flush a ruffed grouse. And it was a special thrill to come out into the first open field below the summit just as a sharp-shinned hawk flapped up into an open perch where I could grab a couple photos.
Sharp-shinned hawk.
Emerging onto the summit proper I met a birding couple from some distance away who had actually taken a day trip to Monhegan while I was there last week. We had a nice chat—and saw a few nice birds—on the way down the open trails. Among the birds: common raven, purple finch, field sparrow (two or three, lurking and preening in some thick foliage), and in the sky an osprey and turkey vulture, the latter seemingly oblivious to harassment from a raven.
Jack and I said goodbye then and headed back up and over. As we entered the lower wooded trail, I heard a lot of chipping from the undergrowth—white-throats, yell0w-rumps, chickadees. One particular chip I didn’t recognize, though, and we went sneaking along the trail as I looked for the source of it when suddenly from a clearing not fifty feet ahead of us an enormous tannish bird lifted silently from a low perch and disappeared through an opening in the trees. Although I didn’t get a great look, I’d have to say it was a great horned owl.
Coming down the last trail, under the shady canopy, I stopped a few times to look up at dozens of little flitting birds. Yell0w-rumps mostly, but also chickadees and brown creepers and a few birds emitting the faint vestiges of their spring songs. A couple of these I didn’t recognize, but it’d have been crazy to go hunting for ’em among all those ‘rumps. However, I did hear what sounded like a black-throated blue warbler’s song. Lo, a member of that species suddenly popped into view in full-color plumage.
It was the twenty-sixth species for the day.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:45 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. White-throated sparrow
2. Hairy woodpecker
3. Golden-crowned kinglet
4. Yellow-rumped warbler
5. Black-capped chickadee
6. Gray catbird
7. Black-and-white warbler
8. Eastern towhee
9. American crow
10. Common yell0wthroat
11. Northern flicker
12. Ruffed grouse
13. Sharp-shinned hawk
14. Blue jay
15. Eastern phoebe
16. Song sparrow
17. Common raven
18. Purple finch
19. Field sparrow
20. Tufted titmouse
21. Downy woodpecker
22. Osprey
23. Turkey vulture
24. Great horned owl
25. Brown creeper
26. Black-throated blue warbler
Elsewhere
27. Herring gull
Morning bay.
