Another sunny, summery morning—but cooler, and with a breeze. The wild birds are busy taking care of their youngsters these days, whether corvid or raptor or warbler or thrush. Noteworthy today was a Red-shouldered Hawk (which dog and I spooked, so I got no good photo), a silent, hunting Alder Flycatcher, and a bunch of juvie thrushes.
One of the latter posed politely for me (seemingly curious about these two animals of different species). Thank you, little Hermie.
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:07 a.m. EST (8:07 DST), I hiked all trails.
1. Red-eyed Vireo** 2. Eastern Phoebe 3. Black-throated Blue Warbler (v) 4. Black-throated Green Warbler (v) 5. Ovenbird** (v) 6. Song Sparrow** 7. Red-bellied Woodpecker (v) 8. American Goldfinch (v) 9. American Crow* 10. Eastern Towhee 11. Black-capped Chickadee (v) 12. American Robin* 13. Tufted Titmouse (v) 14. White-breasted Nuthatch 15. Blue Jay (v) 16. Eastern Wood-pewee 17. Hermit Thrush 18. Red-breasted Nuthatch 19. Northern Flicker (v) 20. Chestnut-sided Warbler (v) 21. Common Yellowthroat 22. Gray Catbird 23. Yellow Warbler (v) 24. Cedar Waxwing 25. Red-shouldered Hawk 26. Field Sparrow (v) 27. Brown Creeper (v) 28. Black-and-white Warbler 29. Eastern Bluebird 30. Alder Flycatcher 31. Turkey Vulture 32. Blue-headed Vireo (v)
Elsewhere
33. Herring Gull
Mammals
American Red Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
No rain in this morning’s forecast, but foggy again to start. (A lot of moisture in the air lately.) Still, soon enough, the sun began to break through occasionally, and the temperature rose a bit. Another very calm day.
Fewer birds than yesterday, but a few interesting ones—most notable being a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers excavating for food along the upper woodland trail. (And I heard the call of a Great Crested Flycatcher as we began our return trip.)
Finally, I’ve marveled at how many dead or dying Brown-tail Moths litter the trails just now. Many hundreds in the past few days—seemingly more each day. (They must live only long enough to lay a fresh batch of eggs.)
Tomorrow’s supposed to be bright and warm.
Beech Hill List Starting at 6:30 a.m. EST (7:30 DST), I hiked all trails.
1. Red-eyed Vireo** (v) 2. Eastern Phoebe** 3. Black-throated Green Warbler (v) 4. Ovenbird** (v) 5. Tufted Titmouse (v) 6. Veery 7. American Goldfinch** 8. Eastern Wood-pewee (v) 9. Black-capped Chickadee (v) 10. Blue Jay (v) 11. White-breasted Nuthatch (v) 12. Northern Flicker (v) 13. Hermit Thrush 14. American Crow* 15. Gray Catbird** 16. Eastern Towhee 17. Common Yellowthroat** 18. Chestnut-sided Warbler** 19. Alder Flycatcher (v) 20. Song Sparrow* 21. Pileated Woodpecker 22. Yellow Warbler** 23. Field Sparrow (v) 24. Barn Swallow 25. Cedar Waxwing* 26. Eastern Bluebird 27. American Robin* 28. Downy Woodpecker (v) 29. Purple Finch 30. Great Crested Flycatcher (v)
Another nippy morning, but blazingly sunny to start. (Sunnier than the forecast, in fact.) Some breeze, blue skies, but fewer bird species than yesterday at the beginning of my hike with Captain Jack.
However, that soon changed. Not only did I end up with twenty-eight species today—including a first-of-year Winter Wren, by the way—but it was a crazy cool selection. Not only that, but on our return down the wooded trail, we encountered a fellow hiker who’s just seen two Snowshoe Hares. This encounter happened just after I’d heard something crashing through the undergrowth. So I took her word for it and put the hare on today’s list
Supposed to be a rainy one tomorrow.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 6:17 a.m. real time (7:17 DST), I hiked all trails.
