A lovely morning—clear, with a bit of breeze, still greenery everywhere. Also birds, quite a few species. Among them three woodpecker species.
I do like woodpeckers. Love ’em, actually—their drumming, their unique method of hunting and dining, their calls, their bouncy flight. Today’s species were hairy and downy and red-bellied (in the reverse order). Others I see on the hill are pileated, flicker, and sapsucker. I love ’em all.
Today’s best woodpecker encounter was at the end of our hike, when dog and I stopped to admire the interactions of a little family of Hairy Woodpeckers—a chase, some vocalizations, some excavations.
In my world, a day without woodpeckers is just a little diminished.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:30 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Black-capped Chickadee 2. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v) 3. Ovenbird (v) 4. Gray Catbird** 5. Eastern Wood-pewee (v) 6. White-breasted Nuthatch (v) 7. Tufted Titmouse (v) 8. Red-eyed Vireo 9. Downy Woodpecker (v) 10. Eastern Towhee 11. Common Raven (v) 12. Common Yellowthroat 13. Red-bellied Woodpecker (v) 14. American Goldfinch (v) 15. American Crow* (v) 16. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 17. Yellow-rumped Warbler 18. Ruby-throated Hummingbird 19. Cedar Waxwing 20. Song Sparrow 21. Blue Jay 22. Northern Cardinal** 23. Purple Finch 24. American Robin 25. Ruffed Grouse 26. Hairy Woodpecker
Elsewhere
27. Mourning Dove
Mammals
Eastern Gray Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
The last bird on my list this lovely cool mostly overcast morning was a lifer: a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.
Other fun things happened, too: a few quiet, wandering warblers; a little gang of turkeys, an oriole, first yellow-rump in a while—but the flycatcher took the cake.
Oddly, I neither heard nor saw an Alder Flycatcher today, but then this little flitting, fly-catching bird down in the woodlands (where yellow-bellies like to hang out) began to flutter off its perch to snatch flies out of the air, then return to its perch, flicking its tail slightly. The little tail-flick, plus the yellowish wash, plus the woodland habitat pretty much confirmed my ID.
A lifer day is always a good day—but would’ve been a good day anyway.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:33 a.m., I hiked most trails.
1. Red-eyed Vireo** (v) 2. Black-and-white Warbler 3. Tufted Titmouse 4. American Goldfinch 5. American Robin 6. Downy Woodpecker (v) 7. American Crow* 8. Eastern Wood-pewee (v) 9. Hermit Thrush (v) 10. White-breasted Nuthatch (v) 11. Black-capped Chickadee 12. Brown Creeper (v) 13. Ovenbird 14. Wild Turkey 15. Common Yellowthroat 16. Eastern Towhee 17. Gray Catbird** 18. Northern Flicker 19. Baltimore Oriole 20. Red-breasted Nuthatch 21. Eastern Phoebe 22. Yellow-rumped Warbler 23. Song Sparrow 24. Cedar Waxwing 25. Yellow Warbler (v) 26. Blue Jay (v) 27. Herring Gull 28. Mourning Dove* 29. American Redstart 30. Chestnut-sided Warbler 31. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher‡
Elsewhere
32. Northern Cardinal
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year ‡Lifer
