The sun emerged this morning first thing, but the air remained nighttime-cool. I almost smelled a nip of fall in the air—but not quite. And it warmed up a lot as the day lengthened.
The excitement of the day—other than the random appearance of a kestrel—turned out to be a little batch of silent warblers. Their silence has persisted for a good while now, but sighting them has been a challenge, what with the tendency of most to stick to the leafy canopy. But I managed four on my list this morning (and photographed three).
Weather-wise, tomorrow’s supposed to be a similar kind of day. Hmmm…
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:13 a.m. EST (8:13 DST), I hiked all trails.
1. Northern Flicker (v) 2. American Goldfinch 3. Red-eyed Vireo (v) 4. Eastern Wood-pewee** (v) 5. White-breasted Nuthatch** (v) 6. Black-capped Chickadee 7. American Crow* 8. Black-throated Green Warbler 9. Black-and-white Warbler (v) 10. Ovenbird 11. Tufted Titmouse (v) 12. Brown Creeper (v) 13. Gray Catbird 14. Eastern Towhee (v) 15. Common Yellowthroat 16. Cedar Waxwing 17. Song Sparrow 18. American Kestrel
Elsewhere
19. Mourning Dove 20. Wild Turkey 21. Rock Pigeon
Mammals
White-tailed Deer
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
This morning Captain Jack and I led a bird walk along the sunny, warming trails of Beech Hill Preserve. A real good number of folks (twenty-ish?) showed up, and the universe smiled on us.
Right away, birds—and among them, again, plenty of them warblers.
Other noteworthy birds were a pair of calling Broad-winged Hawks, a drumming Pileated Woodpecker, a photogenic kestrel, a plethora of towhees. But for the second straight day, I tallied two first-of-year warblers—a Yellow Warbler, and (my favorite) a Black-throated Blue Warbler. (The latter even posed for a nice photo.)
It was fun to tell a few stories of the hill, to offer a few tips, to recall some humorous bird-related memories. An auspicious day, this 9th of May.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 6:30 a.m. sun time (7:30 DST), I hiked all trails.
Cooler than yesterday, with a bit of a disadvantageous (northerly, westerly) breeze, but still the birds arrived. More species on my list today than on any other day this year.
Notable were first-of-year Blackburnian Warbler and Common Yellowthroat. Also had a random kinglet, a kestrel dining on a snake, and only a single crow. But the warblers were stars on this sunny spring day.
Eight warbler species showed up this morning (including the firsts-of-year above), each singing its distinctive spring song. Just lovely.
I do hope they turn up again tomorrow, when I lead my first Beech Hill bird walk in a while.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 6:13 a.m. real time (7:13 DST), I hiked all trails.
