A sunny, warm, kind of glorious morning. Spring at last. A breeze rose in the fully-fledged trees, and the resulting hush obscured some birdsong—but I heard enough (and saw enough) to have a happy hike with dog.
Portrait of chestnut-sided Warbler.
Happiest occurrence: A Black-billed Cuckoo zipped up to a branch directly in front of us along the wooded trail and posed for photos. I rarely get to photograph these shy birds.
Back home, a curiosity: the call of a kingfisher where I’d never heard one before. Weird.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
Monhegan List
From midday Friday, 26 May 2016, to midday Monday, 29 May 2016, I hiked all over the island. (Alphabetical list includes species seen from the ferry both to and from Monhegan.)
1. Alder Flycatcher (v)
2. American Black Duck
3. American Crow
4. American Goldfinch
5. American Redstart
6. American Robin
7. Atlantic Puffin
8. Baltimore Oriole
9. Belted Kingfisher
10. Black Guillemot
11. Black-and-white Warbler
12. Black-capped Chickadee
13. Black-throated Green Warbler
14. Blackburnian Warbler
15. Blackpoll Warbler
16. Blue Jay
17. Brown Thrasher (v)
18. Canada Goose
19. Cattle Egret
20. Cedar Waxwing
21. Chestnut-sided Warbler (v)
22. Common Eider
23. Common Grackle
24. common Loon
25. common Raven
26. Common Tern
27. Common Yellowthroat
28. Double-crested Cormorant
29. Eastern Kingbird
30. Eastern Wood-pewee
31. European Starling
32. Gray Catbird
33. Great Black-backed gull
34. Great Blue Heron
35. Green Heron
36. Hairy Woodpecker
37. Herring Gull
38. Laughing Gull
39. Magnolia Warbler
40. Mallard
41. Mourning Dove
42. Mourning Warbler
43. Northern Cardinal
44. Northern Gannet
45. Northern Mockingbird
46. Northern Parula
47. Orange-crowned Warbler
48. Peregrine Falcon
49. Philadelphia Vireo
50. Purple Finch
51. Red-breasted Nuthatch
52. Red-eyed Vireo
53. Red-winged Blackbird
54. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
55. Roseate Tern
56. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
57. Ruby-throated Hummingbird (v)
58. Scarlet Tanager (v)
59. Song Sparrow
60. Sora
61. Tree Swallow
62. White-breasted Nuthatch
63. White-eyed Vireo
64. Yellow Warbler
v = Voice only
Beech Hill List On 29 May 2017, beginning at 2:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American Goldfinch (v)
2. Chestnut-sided Warbler (v)
3. Eastern Towhee (v)
4. Song Sparrow (v)
5. American Crow
6. Tree Swallow
7. Turkey Vulture
8. Savannah Sparrow
9. Eastern Phoebe
10. Gray Catbird
11. Common Yellowthroat (v)
12. Northern Cardinal (v)
Bird Report is an intermittent record of what's outside my window in Rockport, Maine, USA (44°08'N latitude, 69°06'W longitude), and vicinity. —Brian Willson
