An overcast morning, calm and cool. Birds weren’t particularly vocal, so I wondered if the atmospheric conditions might keep this morning’s numbers down—but it turned out they were flitting all over the place.
Notable was a sapsucker that popped up as I was angling for photos of (I believe) a hummingbird. Three thrushes, nine warblers, two birds posing with nesting materials in their beaks (catbird and robin). One of the thrushes was a Prairie Warbler.
No first-of-years, but dog and I didn’t mind.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 8:05 a.m., I hiked most trails.
1. Red-eyed Vireo** (v) 2. Chestnut-sided Warbler** 3. Ovenbird** 4. Black-throated Green Warbler* (v) 5. American Crow* 6. Northern Parula (v) 7. Northern Cardinal (v) 8. Gray Catbird 9. Black-capped Chickadee 10. Great Crested Flycatcher (v) 11. Veery (v) 12. American Goldfinch* 13. American Redstart (v) 14. Eastern Towhee 15. Ruby-throated Hummingbird 16. Black-and-white Warbler 17. Common Yellowthroat (v) 18. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 19. Blue Jay 20. Hermit Thrush 21. Tufted Titmouse** 22. Song Sparrow* 23. Yellow Warbler (v) 24. Common Raven 25. Field Sparrow 26. Eastern Phoebe* (v) 27. Prairie Warbler 28. Tree Swallow 29. American Robin 30. Savannah Sparrow 31. Nashville Warbler 32. Wood Thrush (v) 33. Eastern Bluebird
Had an eerie sense of déjà vu during my Beech Hill hike with Jack this early morning. As if caught between two times and places. After thousands of hikes up the hill over the years, we took a couple-three years off—and still I feel kind of caught in between Utah and Maine.
The trails were wider, the trailside underbrush cleared out. (No doubt this helps discourage black-legged ticks.) But after following all trails today, I felt I’d recollected all there is to know about the place. I’m sure that’s not entirely true—but still.
Thirty-two bird species. (Yay!) Among them many old familiar faces, beaks, eyes, habits. Could hardly stop searching—then admiring—whenever we’d hear the voice of a new bird.
A very fun morning.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:58 a.m., I hiked all trails.
The morning dawned a bit warmer than yesterday, with a bit of a breeze and dry trails. Spied only a few deer—but a goodly number of good spring birds.
Along with the usual resident species, there came a little vee of geese, multiple Cooper’s Hawks, the voice of Chukar and quail. And also—out of the blue and much to my delight—my first Red-naped Sapsucker. A day with a lifer is always a good day.
But so is a day so infused with evidence—greenery, butterflies, bird migration—of early spring.
Grandeur Peak Area List At 8:07 a.m., sun time, I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. American Robin* 2. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 3. Spotted Towhee* 4. Northern Flicker** (v) 5. Rock Pigeon* 6. House Finch* (v) 7. California Quail (v) 8. Pine Siskin 9. Red-naped Sapsucker‡ 10. Chukar (v) 11. Black-capped Chickadee (v) 12. Ruby-crowned Kinglet (v) 13. Canada Goose 14. Cooper’s Hawk
Elsewhere
15. Eurasian Collared-dove 16. House Sparrow (v)
Mammals
Mule Deer
(v) Voice only *Also Elsewhere **Voice only Elsewhere ‡Lifer
