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Posts Tagged ‘black-throated blue warbler’
Friday, June 25th, 2010
 Gray catbird. We hadn’t hiked more than a hundred yards along the wooded Beech Hill trail this morning when Jack and I happened upon a fellow with three off-leash dogs. Three. And they were large dogs—yellow labs or something.
“Uh-oh,” he said when he saw us. Then: “They’re friendly!”
 Feather on the trail. The dogs charged, one of them barking. They circled Jack, whose hackles looked like the Russian forest before the Tunguska Event.
“Hi,” says I to the dogs, with a smile. Then, to the guy: “You know, they’re supposed to be on leashes.”
“All right,” says he.
“It’s posted, like, all over the place.”
“All right,” says he.
And then I couldn’t resist this little aside: “I just don’t understand why people can’t follow the rules.”
 Savannah sparrow. I mean, it’s not a matter of civil disobedience, is it? Because I support civil disobedience. If you disagree with an unjust rule or law, disobey it peacefully in protest, so long as you don’t hurt anyone. I’m cool with that. (Hell, I’ve done that.) But this isn’t that. This has got to be simple laziness. Or ignorance. Or perhaps a failure to understand the reason for the rules: that there are nesting birds up there (especially at this time of year); that there are organic blueberries for dogs to poop on; that there are humans and other canines (on leashes) for loose dogs to charge or accost—or even attack. (I’ve heard two stories.) Anyway, it drives me crazy. Crazier even than when people don’t pick up after their dogs. I bet I’ve collected a half-dozen piles of dog shit up there that came from other people’s dogs.
(And don’t even get me started on outside cats.)
OK, enough whining. It is what it is, and it was what it was.
 Wild turkey. And what it was today was a spectacular day. What a lovely cool sunny morning. I heard so many warblers (though no redstarts on the hill, oddly) and all three resident thrushes (wood thrush for a change) and all five resident sparrows (as usual). Curiously, only one flycatcher (eastern wood-pewee, the last bird I listed). But there were two fowl, both flushed (woodcock and wild turkey). And I heard both raven and crow.
As it happens, our hike was redeemed as we came back up over the hill and met a lady from Connecticut who summers here and had just discovered Beech Hill. She was completely accepting of Jack—and the buggy, difficult wooded trail she’d just climbed. And was so thrilled with the loveliness of the day. And was so patient with me as I rambled on about the birds I’d seen and pointed out an approaching raven, which right away hollered caw-caw-caw. (We had a good laugh over that one.)
Putting a damper on things this afternoon: a handsome road-killed robin I passed while cycling. I felt a pang of guilt for not returning to collect its carcass and move it to a decent green shady place off the busy road. But perhaps, like the pileated woodpecker last year, it’ll still be there tomorrow. I’ll do it then.
Life is so precious, after all, most exactly because we die.
 Turkey flight. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. Chestnut-sided warbler (voice)
3. Ovenbird (voice)
4. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
5. Cedar waxwing
6. Rose-breasted grosbeak (voice)
7. Common yellowthroat
8. Common raven (voice)
9. Eastern towhee
10. American robin
11. Gray catbird
12. American goldfinch
13. Veery (voice)
14. American crow
15. Yellow warbler (voice)
16. Tree swallow
17. Song sparrow
18. Nashville warbler (voice)
19. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
20. Mourning dove
21. Savannah sparrow
22. Blue jay (voice)
23. Chipping sparrow (voice)
24. White-throated sparrow (voice)
25. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
26. American woodcock
27. Wild turkey
28. Purple finch (voice)
29. Wood thrush (voice)
30. Hermit thrush (voice)
31. Black-throated blue warbler (voice)
32. Northern parula (voice)
33. Eastern wood-pewee
Elsewhere
34. House sparrow
35. American redstart
36. Herring gull
37. Rock pigeon
38. Red-winged blackbird
39. Northern cardinal
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, American woodcock, black-and-white warbler, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house sparrow, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, northern parula, ovenbirdb, purple finch, red-eyed vireo, red-winged blackbird, rock pigeon, rose-breasted grosbeak, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, veery, white-throated sparrow, wild turkey, wood thrush, yellow warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Monday, June 21st, 2010
 Common yellowthroat (female). Somewhere around 7:28 a.m. today, the moment of the 2010 summer solstice, Jack and I were climbing the upper wooded Beech Hill trail, likely getting close to the summit. Hours before, the day had dawned clear and bright and dewy. Not too warm this morning.
 Rose-breasted grosbeak pair. The summer solstice, the longest day. I can’t help but think how, now, the days begin to shorten again—and this trend will continue deep into December. But because of the lag-time caused by heat and wind and the fluid atmosphere of our miraculous tilted planet, the warmest days of this year are yet to come. Not to say today wasn’t warm enough. It got up to 80 degrees (F), at least, I bet.
But this morning was cool, still, pleasant. Plenty of birds on the hill. And each day is different up there somehow.
For instance, this day—this longest day—held more than the usual number of wood-warblers. I heard a northern parula right away (for the first time in weeks, I think); I heard redstart and Nashville warbler, both making their presence known again; I heard black-and-white warblers in several shady hardwood groves; and I heard both black-throated blue and green on the lower wooded trail. Add those to the usual ovenbirds, yellowthroats, chestnut-sideds, and yellow warblers, and you get ten warbler species. A first since May, for sure.
 Savannah sparrow. Also very soon after beginning our hike, in a grove of shady poplars near a stream, I heard the sweet song of a rose-breasted grosbeak—then saw it in the canopy. I snapped off a few dim photos, and when I returned home and downloaded the images, I noticed both male and female in the picture—and the male had what looked like a section of leaf in its bill. Some peculiar courtship display?
At the summit, I heard the soft beep-beep of a nuthatch—which, ordinarily, I would say is a white-breasted. But this bird’s voice sounded somewhat higher-pitched, and it was calling from the trunk of a spruce. I tried for photos of the nuthatch, too, managing only partial images that nonetheless confirmed it as a red-breasted.
 Red squirrel. (I also heard white-breasted today down at the Beech Hill Road parking area.)
The usual five sparrow species (song, savannah, field, chipping, white-throated). The usual three thrushes (robin, hermit, veery). And at that very nesty spot on the eastern slope, I stopped only briefly today—not wanting to put too much stress on the families that’ve been posing for me these past couple days—and snapped a shot of a female yellowthroat.
Finally, on returning up the open trail to the summit, I tried for a photo of the tree swallows that fly there. Swallows in flight are the most difficult photographic subjects, in my experience—which of course makes me even more determined to capture one. Today I focused on the tips of tall grass where the swallows were skimming the yard. As they circled by, I snapped off a bunch of shots; they circled again, I released the shutter again….
On returning home: nothing but the tips of tall grass.
But you know what? That’s OK. In fact, a photo of tall grass seems to typify this loverly first morning of summer.
 Chestnut-sided warbler. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Eastern phoebe (voice)
2. Red-eyed vireo
3. Ovenbird (voice)
4. Chestnut-sided warbler
5. Northern parula (voice)
6. Common yellowthroat
7. American robin
8. Cedar waxwing
9. Veery (voice)
10. Black-capped chickadee
11. American redstart (voice)
12. Rose-breasted grosbeak
13. Gray catbird
14. Eastern towhee
15. Alder flycatcher (voice)
16. Yellow warbler (voice)
17. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
18. Mourning dove
19. Song sparrow
20. Blue jay (voice)
21. Tree swallow
22. Field sparrow
23. Red-breasted nuthatch
24. Savannah sparrow
25. House finch
26. Northern flicker
27. Chipping sparrow (voice)
28. Tufted titmouse (voice)
29. White-throated sparrow (voice)
30. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
31. Hermit thrush (voice)
32. Nashville warbler (voice)
33. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
34. Black-throated blue warbler (voice)
35. American crow (voice)
Elsewhere
36. House finch
37. House sparrow
38. Herring gull
39. Laughing gull
40. Rock pigeon
 Summer grass.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, field sparrow, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, laughing gull, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern flicker, northern parula, ovenbird, purple finch, red-breasted nuthatch, red-eyed vireo, rock pigeon, rose-breasted grosbeak, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
 Gray catbird. I know where there’s a catbird’s nest: near the Beech Hill Preserve parking lot off Beech Hill Road. There’s a robin’s nest near there, too. And an alder flycatcher’s. And a white-throated sparrow’s.
 Eastern towhee (female). I can tell you, too, just where a yellow warbler’s nesting: along a hedgerow bordering a new-mown field down the eastern slope of the hill. I know this because I spotted one of the mating pair today with a caterpillar in its bill perched in a birch near the upper end of the wooded trail. This morning that same tree yielded a singing eastern towhee, a calling alder flycatcher, a pair of American goldfinches, and a cedar waxwing. All at the same time.
A pair of common yellowthroats have a nest along the trail just north of the summit spruce grove. Jack and I have stood motionless as the male and female both chipped and dipped and flitted all around us, their beaks crammed with insects and spiders. Meantime, up amid the spruces themselves, I’ve seen towhees—both sexes—with chock-full bills. And along the open trail, of course, savannah sparrows chip and duck and scold with mouths full of grub for their young.
It’s that reproductive time of year, if you’re a bird.
 American goldfinch (female). Another interesting benefit of walking the same trails every morning for weeks: you get to know certain, individual birds. Like the chestnut-sided warbler that’s invariably calling from the same tree along the upper wooded trail. Or the first-year male American redstart, with the odd call that ends in two loud chimes, that hangs around the shady stretch toward the top of that trail. Or the savannah sparrow with the moth-eaten head-feathers; the yellowthroat with the white speck in front of it’s left eye; the chipping sparrow that sings from the conifers along the road; the red-eyed vireo at the curve in the trail in the woods, with the come-hither whistle in its repertoire. And, of course, that one deaf yellowthroat with the alien-sounding call—still calling this morning, mateless, from a thicket along the open trail.
I guess what I’m trying to communicate, not for the first time: you get sprinkled with gifts when you bother to pay attention.
 Savannah sparrow atop Beech Nut.
Beginning at 6:30 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Mourning dove
2. Northern flicker (voice)
3. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
4. Red-eyed vireo
5. Ovenbird (voice)
6. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
7. American robin
8. Chestnut-sided warbler
9. Eastern towhee
10. Gray catbird
11. American goldfinch
12. American crow (voice)
13. Canada warbler (voice)
14. Cedar waxwing
15. Alder flycatcher
16. Veery
17. Common yellowthroat
18. Eastern phoebe (voice)
19. American redstart (voice)
20. Song sparrow (voice)
21. Savannah sparrow
22. Yellow warbler
23. Hermit thrush (voice)
24. Blue jay (voice)
25. Chipping sparrow (voice)
26. White-throated sparrow (voice)
27. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
28. Hairy woodpecker
29. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
30. Black-throated blue warbler (voice)
31. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
32. Tufted titmouse (voice)
33. Field sparrow (voice)
34. House finch (voice)
35. Tree swallow
Elsewhere
36. House finch
37. Herring gull
38. House sparrow
 Savannah sparrow.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throatd green warbler, black-throated blue warbler, blue jay, Canada warbler, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, field sparrow, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, house finch, mourning dove, northern flicker, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, SAlder flyicatcher, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated 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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