Ruffed grouse.

The woods and fields of Beech Hill these days are a world of rampant bird sex. Earlier in spring, I watched a couple of chickadees, well, couple, and admired how the female sat and quavered for a while afterward, wings outstretched a little and flutter, as she made a sound like faint bird baby talk. A week or so ago I watched a scramble from tree to tree that resulted in the mating of robins. But these past few days have been a veritable orgy.

First, the ovenbirds. They chase through the trees of a mixed woodland, tittering and chittering madly. This morning—or was it yesterday morning?—I watched what appeared to me to be a flirty female crouching low and flat on a twig with her wings stretched out and her tail up, looking this way and that for the male that had been chasing her about the time I showed up. Everyone stood still for a while until the female got impatient and flitted away, and another chase was on.

Scarlet tanager.

Second, the Savannah sparrows. One or both of this species’ sexes lets out a subtle, urgent, high-pitched, elongated buzzing sound as they tear around just a foot or two above the open fields. I watched more than one pair engage in this passionate chase this morning—and recently even watched the catch and consummation.

But the recently arrived species are still battling it out for territory: the singing redstarts, the singing yellow warblers, the singing scarlet tanagers that just showed up yesterday. Yellow warblers, when they get to chasing each other, mean business. A chase of theirs will go on and on, over the fields and through the trees, veering around corners, reckless, determined, enduring.

And then there are the early nesters whose new birds have already emerged. On the hill, these are mostly the ground fowl, like the woodcock I spotted at the summit a few days ago. This morning it was a grouse.

I’d been standing on the curvy trail through the young poplar near the Beech Hill Road parking lot, a place with high traffice but protective cover. I had heard the pointed yet alluring (to me) call of a blackpoll warbler in the trees and was standing still at the edge of the trail. That’s when I heard what at first sounded like the voice of a human female emitting a curious “Hm?” It sounded nearby. My attention shifted away from the blackpoll that still called somewhere in the trees.  The new sound came again, now a coo? Coo? Now seeming more insistent. Now a series of whiny coos and small wails coming from the tangles not fifteen feet away.

Dandelion.

It took me probably at least a minute to see the grouse in the new foliage. I could barely make out what she was doing while emitting the coos and whines—grabbing dead leaves off the ground and tossing them lightly over her shoulder, as if trying to cover herself, camouflage herself, or perhaps her chicks. Yes, that had to be it, had to be the reasons he was in such an unlikely location in the first place. She had hatchlings that—as ground bird hatchlings tend to do—had left the nest right away, and the whole brood was in the middle of an adventure that had taken it too close to a nosy human. I couldn’t get a great photo, but I did get a fuzzy video with sound.

Later, coming down through the lower woods, I happened to look up into the trees and see a male tanager sitting up there. This one wasn’t singing, but I tried for some photos anyway. One crazy blurry shot had an ethereal quality. I’ll share it here. I’m sure there’s a female tanager out in the wood somewhere that will find him irresistibly attractive.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m., I hiked all trails.

1. Ovenbird
2. Common yellowthroat
3. Tufted titmouse
4. Eastern towhee
5. Black-throated green warbler
6. Eastern phoebe
7. Red-eyed vireo
8. Northern cardinal
9. Black-and-white warbler
10. Northern parula
11. Blue jay
12. Herring gull
13. Rose-breasted grosbeak
14. American crow
15. Black-capped chickadee
16. Gray catbird
17. Chestnut-sided warbler
18. American goldfinch
19. Hairy woodpecker
20. American redstart
21. Magnolia warbler
22. Nashville warbler
23. Northern flicker
24. Pileated woodpecker
25. Yellow warbler
26. Scarlet tanager
27. White-breasted nuthatch
28. Hermit thrush
29. Mallard
30. Field sparrow
31. Purple finch
32. Savannah sparrow
33. Mourning dove
34. American robin
35. Chipping sparrow
36. Black-throated blue warbler
37. Blackpoll warbler
38. Ruffed grouse
39. Turkey vulture
40. Eastern kingbird

Elsewhere

41. House finch
42. European starling
43. Common grackle
44. House sparrow

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere