Wore my winter coat this morning, ’cause the temperature was about 19° (F) and the winds were high. Fingers and lips got a bit number on the way up the hill—although Captain Jack seemed perfect comfortable—but on the way back down, with the wind at our backs, the air felt almost balmy.
Few birds again, but the buntings were still hanging out behind the hut. Also encountered a whole shoot-load of chickadees, quite a few yellow-rumps, etc.
Most notable? A pair of Turkey Vultures. (Did not expect that—especially not on such a chilly morn.) And back home, a bunch of plain ol’ turkeys. And coots at Chickawaukie Lake, and a vee of geese flying over Route 1.
The temperature’s supposed to rise a few degrees by morning.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:22 a.m., I hiked most trails.
Up early for the annual National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count (CBC) for our neck of the woods. This year, we diverged a bit from our customary first leg—the Rockland Breakwater—to make sure we recorded a noteworthy bird in our region: a Yellow-throated Warbler that had been seen for the past several days on the grounds of the Samoset Resort. Got it.
Common Ravens.
The weather was balmy compared to most CBCs I remember—low- to mid-30s (F). (Typically, it seems like it’s been 12 degrees with a high wind.) But that meant odd birds, and not that many of ’em. Instead of a dozen or so Purple Sandpipers, for instance, we got one. Instead of fifty-plus species, we got forty-something. Since I never do the afternoon trip, I got thirty-four.
But those included two “warblers”: the yellow-throated and a Yellow-breasted Chat (arguably not really a warbler)—only the second of that species I’ve ever seen. Also a pair of vocal ravens flew over, and we had a little flurry of bird activity near the cemetery, and we counted about a hundred coots.
Ring-billed Gull.
Afterward, I rescued a house-bound Jack and we took a quick Beech Hill hike. Only two species up there today.
Windy as hell tonight.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 2:15 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American Crow* (v)
2. Black-capped Chickadee* (v)
Elsewhere
3. American Goldfinch
4. Herring Gull
5. Mallard
6. House Sparrow
7. Common Raven
8. Yellow-throated Warbler
9. Ring-billed Gull
10. Canada Goose
11. Common Eider
12. Red-necked Grebe
13. Horned Grebe
14. White-breasted Nuthatch
15. American Black Duck
16. Great Black-backed Gull
17. Long-tailed Duck
18. Surf Scoter
19. Purple Sandpiper
20. Black Guillemot
21. Great Cormorant
22. Bufflehead
23. Yellow-breasted Chat
24. Rock Pigeon
25. Tufted Titmouse
26. Brown Creeper
27. Downy Woodpecker
28. Red-tailed Hawk
29. Hairy Woodpecker
30. Common Goldeneye
31. Bonaparte’s Gull
32. American Coot
