Warm to start under mostly cloudy skies—about room temperature out. Light winds, drier than in recent days. Thunderstorms forecast for this evening, though, so coming days will be wetter.
Invasive Brown-tailed Moths litter the trails these days—I suppose they live short lives in the moth stage, just long enough to lay eggs. The caterpillars really got me this year.
Birds were active, despite (perhaps because of?) the overcast. Most notable were a raven, a gull, and a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird. (I’d rather have a brown-headed critter than a brown-tailed one any ol’ day.)
Might get wet tomorrow, dog and I. We shall see!
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:06 a.m. EST (8:06 DST), I hiked all trails.
1. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (drumming) 2. Red-eyed Vireo** (v) 3. Ovenbird** 4. Tufted Titmouse (v) 5. Eastern Phoebe 6. Black-throated Green Warbler (v) 7. American Goldfinch 8. Brown Creeper (v) 9. Veery (v) 10. Hairy Woodpecker (v) 11. Eastern Wood-pewee (v) 12. Black-capped Chickadee** 13. Blue Jay (v) 14. Hermit Thrush (v) 15. Scarlet Tanager (v) 16. White-breasted Nuthatch (v) 17. Black-and-white Warbler (v) 18. Gray Catbird** 19. Common Yellowthroat 20. American Robin* 21. Song Sparrow 22. American Crow* (v) 23. Yellow Warbler 24. Eastern Towhee (v) 25. Eastern Bluebird 26. Cedar Waxwing 27. Field Sparrow (v) 28. Purple Finch (v) 29. Mourning Dove (v) 30. Chestnut-sided Warbler 31. Downy Woodpecker (v) 32. Savannah Sparrow (v)
Elsewhere
33. Mallard 34. Herring Gull
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
A warm, humid morning, this one. Dog and I headed up the trail at the usual time, unsure (at least I was) of what birds we’d encounter under such suddenly interesting conditions.
Quite a few, turns out—including a couple of surprises.
E.g., an Eastern Kingbird showed up out of nowhere and commenced to chasing other birds around. Another example: I happened to spy a juvie Brown-headed Cowbird. Possibly (judging by the nearness of a pair of them) raised by Yellow Warblers.
But this morning’s most photogenic bird? A Chestnut-sided Warbler.
Beech Hill List Starting at 6:32 a.m. EST (7:32 DST), I hiked all trails.
Went to bed last night thinking dog and I would have to hike in sprinkles for the second straight day, but no. A simple, misty overcast greeted us when we arrived at the trailhead—a couple hours earlier than yesterday. And nearly twice as many bird species showed up.
Notable was a singing Veery (seen), two singing Scarlet Tanagers (unseen), a random flicker (unseen), and confirmation that the juvie Hairy Woodpeckers have left their nest hole.
Truly a lovely overcast, this one. Tomorrow’s supposed be showery.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:30 a.m. sun time (8:30 DST), I hiked all trails.
