A similar start to yesterday’s hike—rather late up the main trail, overcast, damp, nippy, calm—but with a little sun brightening things up after a while. The sun also warmed things up. And birds were active.
Notable were a pair of larks, a loon in overflight, the croaks of a raven—and a rare glimpse of a Pileated Woodpecker.
Pileateds themselves aren’t rare in the woods, but they’re good at making themselves scarce. Often you’ll hear their loud, distinctive call, and sometimes you can track one by its especially loud hammering. But I do love to get a peek at these lovely birds. Today’s female posed for a photo.
Beech Hill List Starting at 8:04 a.m. EST (9:04 DST), I hiked all trails.
1. Song Sparrow (v) 2. Blue Jay 3. Yellow-rumped Warbler** 4. American Crow* 5. American Goldfinch 6. Common Yellowthroat (v) 7. Hairy Woodpecker 8. Northern Flicker 9. Common Loon 10. Horned Lark 11. Tufted Titmouse (v) 12. Eastern Towhee (v) 13. Black-capped Chickadee 14. Hermit Thrush 15. Brown Creeper (v) 16. Red-bellied Woodpecker (v) 17. White-breasted Nuthatch 18. Common Raven (v) 19. Pileated Woodpecker
Elsewhere
20. Herring Gull 21. Northern Cardinal
Mammals
Eastern Gray Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
A mostly sunny morning for Captain Jack and me, but also a chilly one (temps in low–50s (F) to start). Still, a much birdier hike than in recent days.
Yellow-rumps still, late-to-migrate catbirds and towhees and thrushes and vireo. A kinglet. The usual chickadees and jays and crows. And three woodpecker species.
Most woodpeckers hereabouts don’t migrate, which makes their presence comforting in a way. Flickers will move around some in the colder months, but for several years now a few have wintered over.
I truly do appreciate our resident woodpeckers.
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:40 a.m. EST (8:40 DST), I hiked all trails.
With sunshine angling down between fluffy white clouds, I headed up the wooded trail for a change with Captain Jack this morning. Quite a little wind blowing (nearly lost my hat a time or two), and fewer bird species than even yesterday, but dog and human hikers were numerous compared to recent days—no doubt because of it being Indigenous Peoples Day.
Thrushes again, and woodpeckers, and woodpeckers, but yellow-rumps remain the most numerous birds migrating through.
Yellow sun and chill in the air and falling leaves—definitely autumn.
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:59 a.m. EST (8:59 DST), I hiked all trails.
1. Downy Woodpecker 2. Black-capped Chickadee 3. Blue Jay (v) 4. Hermit Thrush 5. Red-bellied Woodpecker (v) 6. Yellow-rumped Warbler** 7. American Goldfinch (v) 8. American Crow* (v) 9. Song Sparrow (v)
Elsewhere
10. Herring Gull
Mammals
Meadow Vole
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
