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Posts Tagged ‘white-thraoted sparrow’
Thursday, September 8th, 2011
 View from Beech Nut. Yet another day that began wet and chilly but transformed into a fair and warmish one—a late-summer phenomenon around these parts. Considering I’d worn jeans and hadn’t opened many windows, I didn’t anticipate the kind of delicious, fast bicycle ride I found myself enjoying late in the day. Beforehand, I pulled on a long-sleaved jersey and fingerless gloves, but by the time I’d returned the gloves were in my pac and I was sweating as profusely as ever. Chickadees, titmice, cardinals, waxwings, crows.
 Swirly bay. Not until early evening did Jack and I make our way to Beech Hill—with a side-trip to the grocery store—via Route 17. (Mallards, cormorants, and a laughing gull at Chickawaukie Lake.) By then the sky was a miracle.
As we ascended the hill, I could hardly count birds for twirling around to absorb the visual alchemy of such combinations of cloud-shapes, light, and distance. Add to this such perfect air—its ideal temperature, its whisper of breeze, its clean, sharp taste and smell—and I soon began thinking it must’ve been the most beautiful evening of the year. Just a miracle.
And also rather birdy. First heard a catbird’s mew! and the wing whistles of a dove. Then heard goldfinch and crow. Coming up the first rise, we stopped at the voice of a robin—or to gaze at the sky, I can’t exactly remember—and also heard a white-throated sparrow, a pileated woodpecker, and a singing yellowthroat. Elsewhere on the hill were towhees, another yellowthroat, another catbird, a flitting savannah sparrow, and another pileated ‘pecker.
Returning down along the road, I heard chickadees the first thick spruce and stopped to look for other species. And there was one, in the shadows, to close to focus on. It looked like it might be a red-breasted nuthatch, but the light was dim and the bird was quick and I couldn’t get a good ID. Same with a few chipping birds I heard behind us by the gate: just to dark to see.
 Coastal hills. But that’s OK. A baker’s dozen works for me—especially on such a memorably lovely evening.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:45 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Gray catbird (voice)
2. Mourning dove (wingbeats)
3. American goldfinch (voice)
4. American crow
5. Cedar waxwing
6. American robin (voice)
7. White-throated sparrow (voice)
8. Pileated woodpecker (voice)
9. Common yellowthroat (voice)
10. Black-capped chickadee
11. Eastern towhee (voice)
12. Savannah sparrow
13. Blue jay (voice)
Elsewhere
14. Herring gull
15. House sparrow
16. Tufted titmouse
17. Northern cardinal
18. Mallard
19. Double-crested cormorant
20. Laughing gull
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, double-crested cormorant, eastern towhee, gray catbird, herring gull, house sparrow, laughing gull, mallard, mourning dove, northern cardinal, pileated woodpecker, savannah sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-thraoted sparrow
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Sunday, October 24th, 2010
 Golden-crowned kinglet. Birds of Beech Hill, October
 Golden-crowned kinglet. It’s not so cold,
not so cold as yesterday here.
The air is still, that’s why.
And sun splashes into my eyes,
for a moment blinding me
when Jack and I turn to climb the hill
but also warming my eastern side.
As Jack stops to pee
I hear jays and chickadees
but I’ve learned not to say out loud
the word “chickadee”
or he will bark.
 Hairy woodpecker. I hear the chips of yellow-rumps.
I hear the voice of a robin.
I hear the cawing of crows,
many crows, a cacaphony.
They’re holding a convention
on the summit of the hill.
I first catch sight of their black backs
reflecting the sunlight just over the crest,
but when they see Jack and me approaching
they lift up as pulled by kite strings
the cawing, cawing crows
and so I bring up my camera
to take a few group photos as
from somewhere behind me
I hear the croak of a raven.
But we don’t turn away
Jack and I
from the rising cacaphony of crows.
 White-throated sparrow. At the summit I look briefly
at the scenic bay that takes the breaths away
from the summer people at other seasons
and the leaf-peepers of his time of year,
but only briefly
because I’m more interested
in the cawing crows now far below.
As we return and round the open trail,
a single crow flaps left of us
and lands in the gold-and-russet barren
of the southern slope.
It doesn’t fly away when we stop
as crows tend to do
but stands watching,
perhaps waiting for us to walk away
so it can forage there
in the gone-by blueberry field
but likely for some other reason
completely foreign to Jack and me.
 Black-capped chickadee. Nearing the bottom of the trail
I’m surprised by a golden-crowned kinglet
flitting about in a pint-sized spruce
not a dozen feet away.
I raise my camera
but then it’s gone,
so as Jack waits patiently
I turn my camera toward a junco
pecking around by the road.
We’re standing quietly, I suppose,
is why the kinglet returns
to an even nearer spruce branch
and presents its comely eye-stripe
and shows off its golden crown
so I can take its picture.
Today, after some minor experimentation, I confirmed my suspicion that groups of crows do, in fact, tend to take flight when a human in view suddenly stops moving.
 Four crows, Beech Hill, Rockport, Maine, 24 October 2010. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 8:30 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Blue jay (voice)
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. Hairy woodpecker
4. Pileated woodpecker (voice)
5. Yellow-rumped warbler
6. American robin (voice)
7. Northern flicker (voice)
8. American crow
9. Common raven (voice)
10. White-throated sparrow
11. Song sparrow
12. American goldfinch (voice)
13. Golden-crowned kinglet
14. Dark-eyed junco
Elsewhere
15. Herring gull
16. Ring-billed gull
 Five crows.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, common raven, dark-eyed junco, golden-crowned kinglet, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, ring-billed gull, song sparrow, white-thraoted sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Friday, August 13th, 2010
 Gray catbird. I got to thinking this morning—this bright, still, chilly morning, with temperatures about 55 degrees (F)—that much of the kind of birding I do involves indirectness. Or indirection. Misdirection. Some damn thing.
 Black-and-white warbler. What I mean is, as is the case with many (most?) birders, in the field I open my senses so entirely as to let in any clue. The clue might be a flitting shadow in angular morning sunlight. I might hear a rustle in the undergrowth, or that sound that feathered wings make when beating a retreat through the dewy air. The clue might be wild caws from a murder of crows (sure sign of hawk or owl). Or the eerie silence of a landscape usually full of birdsong (another sign). I’ve identified flickers on the scant evidence of a few wingbeats. Woodcocks, ditto.
Like today on the summit, when I heard a single, solitary, sweet, five note call, and I thought, “redstart.” Never mind that I hadn’t heard a redstart sing for a month or more. Never mind that I haven’t even seen one in weeks. Never mind that I’ve never seen one in the spruces at the summit. That was the immediate thought that came to mind.
Of course, right away I had second thoughts. I second-guessed. I was jumping to conclusions, I told myself. Don’t be silly, I told myself.
Moments later, An orange-sided redstart flitted into view directly in front of me.
Coming down through the little winding trail that leads to the Beech Hill Road parking lot, I heard some chip notes and asked Jack to wait. Right away, a tiny bird flitted up onto a twig not a dozen feet distant. My camera, of course, had gone to sleep, and I couldn’t wake it up in time to get a photo. But anyway this little bird was very nervous and active, so there would’ve been no guarantees. But I got a great look: greenish gray, wing bars, eye-ring, and tiny. Smaller than a warbler.
By golly, it was a ruby-crowned kinglet.
 Ruby-throated hummingbird (female). Ironically, this was only a few yards away from where I last saw a ruby-crown on Beech Hill—maybe three years ago when birding with my friend Kristen and some others (can’t remember exactly the occasion). That time, the bird was in full song. This one simply delivered a chip-chip-chip at me and my dog.
Speaking of irony, that’s sort of what I’m talking about. Indirectness. Sarcastic humor and thought-provoking banter and social camaraderie and inter-galactic planetary research—lots of stuff depends on our ability to observe things from a step or two away. It’s kind of like an inside joke. You get to know something well enough, and the tiniest clue, the wink of a shared experience, some subtlety indirectly witnessed can enrich the kind of wild, miraculous adventure that is a simple morning hike up Beech Hill.
 Cedar waxwing courtship display. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:45 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. American goldfinch
3. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
4. Cedar waxwing
5. American crow (voice)
6. Hermit thrush (voice)
7. American robin (voice)
8. Gray catbird
9. Hairy woodpecker
10. Eastern towhee
11. Common yellowthroat
12. White-throated sparrow
13. White-breasted nuthatch
14. Mourning dove
15. Ruby-throated hummingbird
16. Song sparrow
17. Northern flicker (voice)
18. Eastern phoebe
19. Double-crested cormorant (overflight)
20. American redstart
21. Black-and-white warbler
22. Red-breasted nuthatch
23. Savannah sparrow
24. Blue jay (voice)
25. Yellow warbler (voice)
26. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
27. Ruby-crowned kinglet
28. Alder flycatcher
29. Tree swallow
30. Downy woodpecker
Elsewhere
31. Northern cardinal
32. Herring gull
33. Great blue heron
 Upper wooded trail.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, double-crested cormorant, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, great blue heron, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, red-breasted nuthatch, red-eyed vireo, ruby-crowned kinglet, ruby-throated hummingbird, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, white-breasted nuthatch, white-thraoted sparrow, yellow warbler
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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