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Posts Tagged ‘brown thrasher’
Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
 Turning leaves. Ah, fall. Havest time. That point in the year when the air grows nippy, you can catch the smell of woodsmoke, and daylight becomes dear. The season of confusing warblers.
 Yellow-rumped warbler. Nothing was confusing about the mew! of a catbird as Jack and I embarked on our morning hike. The sky was mostly overcast, the temperature was pleasantly cool, and color had begun to infuse the plant life right on schedule. It struck me as somewhat eerie, even: the first day of fall, the first ruddy hues down the southern slope, the first bright red sumac leaves, the first fiery maple clusters. On the trail beneath the poplar groves spread newly fallen yellow aspen leaves. And other dead things.
First I saw a small dead meadow vole—or what looked like a vole—on the upper wooded trail. Then, along a curve, another collection of feathers and down, all that remained of some hawk’s dinner. Finally, coming down the open trail, another small dead vole. I also saw a harrier being accosted by crows and a kestrel hovering above a brushy field. And warblers moving through.
Mostly ‘rumps again—many of them. (Yellow-rumped warblers and white-throated sparrows seem by far the most abundant birds on the hill right now.) Most field guides will tell you that warblers don’t migrate in flocks, but yell0w-rumps do stick together, in my observation. They come in loose groups and chip and chase and flit together from tree to tree. I hardly ever see a single one. Usually I see four or five or six. Today I heard and/or saw yellow-rumped warblers all over the hill. Only later, looking at photos, did I notice that among them was a vireo—a young blue-headed, I’m pretty sure.
 Blue-headed vireo (I'm pretty sure). Also sparrows, three varieties. A phoebe. And returning down to the wooded section, coming around between meadows, I heard among the ‘rumps a chittering chatter—a house wren. We stopped, and I as waited for the little bird to make an appearance (which it did but briefly) a brown thrasher stuck its head out from a clump of dark undergrowth. Then it ducked away again. That was a surprise—alas, to sudden for a photo.
A group of chickadees appeared, so I scanned the canopy on either side of the lower wooded trail. There, a red-eyed vireo. And nearing the parking lot, I heard the high, thin notes of brown creepers among the trees.
 End of the trail. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:30, I hiked all trails.
1. Gray catbird
2. Common yellowthroat (voice)
3. White-throated sparrow
4. Eastern towhee
5. Yellow-rumped warbler
6. Blue jay
7. Northern flicker
8. American crow
9. Black-capped chickadee
10. American goldfinch (voice)
11. Song sparrow
12. Blue-headed vireo
13. Northern harrier
14. Savannah sparrow
15. Kestrel
16. Eastern phoebe
17. House wren
18. Brown thrasher
19. Red-eyed vireo
20. Brown creeper (voice)
Elsewhere
21. Herring gull
22. European starling
23. Rock pigeon
24. Mourning dove
25. Northern cardinal
 Yellow-rumped warbler, Beech Hill, Rockport, Maine, 23 September 2010.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, blue-headed vireo, brown creeper, brown thrasher, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, European starling, gray catbird, herring gull, house wren, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, northern harrier, red-eyed vireo, rock pigeon, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
 Morning woods, Beech Hill. I’m starting to question my ovenbird ID yesterday. When Jack and I got out of the truck at Beech Hill first thing this morning, I heard a warbler calling loudly from the same place as yesterday’s supposed ovenbird—but this was clearly a common yellowthroat. I did describe yesterday’s bird as having an odd, abbreviated call; and, sure enough, this yellowthroat had an odd abbreviated call, too. Instead of witchety, witchety, it sang something like witchy-witchy.
Sort of like an ovenbird.
 Brown thrasher. That was the only ovenbird-like song I heard today, so it got me wondering. However, I did spot what looked like an ovenbird in the undergrowth coming down the lower wooded trail yesterday morning, so I’m not gonna adjust that list. And today, descending the same trail, I heard prolonged chittering calls like ovenbirds chasing each other in spring. I won’t list them today—although I kind of think that’s what they were.
But what a day, today. Cool—in the 60s (F)—sunny in the morning, with something of a little breeze. About half-way to the summit, emerging from some thick greenery, I saw a catbird up ahead maybe 50 feet. It’d seen us, too, and was sounding the alarm. Then suddenly a big bird flew out of some foliage to the left and swept up and then down the hill to the right. A buteo of some kind. It looked like a young red-tailed or red-shouldered. I only saw it for about a second and a half and couldn’t confirm an ID.
 Northern flicker on Beech Nut. Soon after, I heard the insistent call of a black-billed cuckoo coming from up the hill. And turning into the first of the open fields, I spotted the brown thrasher in the same place it popped up yesterday—in some dead snags near an apple tree. In fact, a group of sparrows and towhees were also perched in the same tree. I managed a couple photos.
One odd sighting at the summit: a flicker clinging to a rock column at Beech Nut. That was weird. Plenty of phoebes again. All three primary flycatchers, in fact: phoebe, alder, pewee. And all five sparrows again—although the white-throat didn’t sing until our return.
 Gray catbird. I learned something else today: American woodcocks nested very near the Beech Hill Road parking lot. I recall flushing a woodcock a couple times in the wet area just around the curve from there in spring. And in the past couple weeks, I’ve flushed one of the birds at least three times in exactly the same place just across the trail from the original, um, flushing. If it happens tomorrow, I’ll stick around and hunt for chicks.
Finally, I just want to say this: I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll hear two of my favorite bird songs at one particular GPS location, at about 8 or 8:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. Hermit thrush and eastern wood-pewee. I’ve heard both about the same time of day—for the past week, I bet—at the same point along the lower wooded trail.
Absolute candy for the ears.
* * *
This afternoon, driving back from town, I caught sight of a mockingbird near a busy Route 1 intersection, grabbing some morsel from a patch of grass near the curb and at once flapping away up the hill. That makes three mimics I listed today: catbird, thrasher, mockingbird.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. Common yellowthroat
3. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
4. Chestnut-sided warbler
5. American crow (voice)
6. Gray catbird
7. American goldfinch (voice)
8. Eastern towhee
9. Cedar waxwing
10. American robin (voice)
11. Veery (voice)
12. Unidentified buteo
13. Black-billed cuckoo (voice)
14. Alder flycatcher (voice)
15. Song sparrow
16. Field sparrow
17. Brown thrasher
18. Northern flicker
19. Eastern phoebe
20. Savannah sparrow
21. Herring gull
22. Hermit thrush (voice)
23. Yellow warbler (voice)
24. Blue jay (voice)
25. Chipping sparrow (voice)
26. White-throated sparrow (voice)
27. Northern cardinal
28. Tufted titmouse (voice)
29. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
30. American woodcock
31. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
32. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
33. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
Elsewhere
34. Northern mockingbird
 Mushroom.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, American woodcock, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, brown thrasher, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, field sparrow, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, northern cardinal, northern flicker, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, unidentified buteo, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler
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Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
 American goldfinch (male). “I could get hit by a bus crossing the street this afternoon.”
How many times have we heard a comment like that? Usually it means, hey, appreciate what you’ve got, because this, too, shall pass.
 Chestnut-sided warbler (juvenile). Well, I sure appreciated this positively balmy morning. Cool, sunny, calm. And as Jack and I emerged at Beech Hill first thing, the second bird I heard was an ovenbird. It sang an odd, abbreviated call, but it was an ovenbird. First on my list for a number of days.
And then the species started piling up in a hurry.
For a while, it was the usual birds. But then in a thick stretch of the upper wooded trail, a flush—and a grouse rose and flew from the undergrowth. And another flapped along unseen in the greenery. And on the other side of the trail, the mew of a mama partridge. (A young family, no doubt.) Now that was exciting for Jack and me.
Then, sneaking up on an alder flycatcher calling from the first open fields, we heard the panting sound of Greta, Chuck’s German shepherd dog, not far behind us and so picked up our tempo around the corner. (Greta loves all humans but is not crazy about other dogs.) Just then, a brown thrasher flitted up into the crown of some foliage immediately ahead of us in all its coppertone glory. First thrasher since at least mid-spring.
 Common yellowthroat. And then, coming up to the summit, where phoebes were still going nuts all over the place, I noticed Jack looking upward and cast my eyes that way: a herring gull was flying low overhead.
How could there ever be a better birding dog?
The Beech Hill Road parking lot was birdy as heck—as it’s been lately—beginning with a rowdy family of blue jays. Also a downy woodpecker (second of the day, the first being at the summit). I hadn’t seen downies in a while. And the voices of cardinal and titmouse and black-and-white warbler.
 Clouds. Coming back up the open slope, I happened to be watching a crow fly by when I noticed a tiny blur zipping overhead: a ruby-throated hummer. That got me thinking—much unlike last year, when multiple hummingbird families nested all along the wooded trails, the only members of this impressive species I’ve seen this year have been flybys but one, and that one was sipping on purple clover near the gate.
The dependable eastern wood-pewee was singing again on the way back through the trees. Also the hermit thrush. And then, surprisingly, a cuckoo called. It was very near. I didn’t see it, though.
As we got back to the pickup I got to thinking that this morning was a wonderful example of living life in the moment: wonderful, surprising birds. Hell, I crashed my bike into a car last week (I had the right-of-way). And who knows? I might get hit by a bus tomorrow morning.
Tonight a line of thunderstorms blew through. Riveting. Thrilling. I love the whole idea of a night-line of thunderstorms.
 Alder flycatcher. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. Ovenbird
3. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
4. Chestnut-sided warbler
5. American goldfinch
6. Common yellowthroat
7. American crow
8. Eastern towhee
9. Gray catbird
10. Cedar waxwing
11. American robin (voice)
12. Alder flycatcher
13. Veery (voice)
14. Ruffed grouse
15. Song sparrow
16. Brown thrasher
17. Eastern phoebe
18. Northern flicker
19. Downy woodpecker
20. Herring gull
21. Savannah sparrow
22. Mourning dove
23. Hermit thrush (voice)
24. Yellow warbler (voice)
25. White-throated sparrow (voice)
26. Field sparrow (voice)
27. Blue jay
28. Chipping sparrow (voice)
29. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
30. Northern cardinal (voice)
31. Tufted titmouse (voice)
32. Ruby-throated hummingbird
33. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
34. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
35. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
36. Black-billed cuckoo (voice)
Elsewhere
37. House sparrow
38. Cooper’s hawk
 Mists.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, brown thrasher, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, cooper's hawk, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, field sparrow, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, ruby-throated hummingbird, ruffed grouse, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, 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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