The temperature had barely warmed into the 40s (F) by the time dog and I hit the hill this morning. A blue, blue sky, not much of a breeze, not a lot of bird sounds early on. But as we neared the summit, things began to get interesting.
En route up there I heard (then got a glimpse of) a flock of south-bound geese. Had a hermit thrush and a couple of woodpeckers. And that’s about the time a Northern Harrier appeared. The marsh hawk was (as is their habit) floating low above the barrens, seeking out a mouse or vole. And then I heard the guttural croak of a raven—the kind that almost sounds like the bubbling up of a deep gooey liquid.
Spied the raven, which was flying west above the hill. A Cooper’s Hawk appeared, and the two circled each other suspiciously. Then the harrier rose up to join the party, and all three birds circled and veered and dove and tried to avoid each other. Down here on terra firma, I couldn’t’ve been more excited at this display.
Twenty species today. Who’d’ve thunk it in the month of November?
Beech Hill List Beginning at 8:09 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American Crow* 2. Hermit Thrush 3. American Goldfinch 4. Black-capped Chickadee 5. Canada Goose 6. Hairy Woodpecker 7. Northern Flicker (v) 8. American Robin** 9. Yellow-rumped Warbler 10. Red-breasted Nuthatch 11. Downy Woodpecker 12. Dark-eyed Junco 13. Eastern Bluebird 14. Northern Harrier 15. Song Sparrow 16. Blue Jay (v) 17. Common Raven 18. Cooper’s Hawk 19. White-throated Sparrow 20. Brown Creeper (v)
Elsewhere
21. Wild Turkey
Mammals
Eastern Chipmunk American Red Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
The forecast called for a morning overcast, and there were clouds—but there was also sun. And birds. Things are coiling up like a spring, awaiting the sweet release of fall migration.
Notable: a Cooper’s Hawk, a pair of sharpies, three species of corvid, vultures, and a gang of four Red Crossbills atop the summit spruce grove.
Supposed to rain tomorrow, but not early, so a morning hike it will be.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:49 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Blue Jay** (v) 2. Tufted Titmouse (v) 3. American Crow* 4. Red-eyed Vireo 5. Black-capped Chickadee 6. American Robin (v) 7. Eastern Towhee 8. Gray Catbird** 9. Common Yellowthroat 10. American Goldfinch 11. Cooper’s Hawk 12. Purple Finch (v) 13. Yellow-rumped Warbler 14. Red-breasted Nuthatch 15. Song Sparrow** 16. Sharp-shinned Hawk 17. Common Raven (v) 18. Eastern Wood-pewee (v) 19. Eastern Phoebe 20. Herring Gull* 21. Turkey Vulture 22. Red-bellied Woodpecker (v) 23. Savannah Sparrow 24. Red Crossbill 25. Cedar Waxwing
Elsewhere
25. Mourning Dove
Mammals
Eastern Gray Squirrel Eastern Chipmunk
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
Saw hawks and a wren this unseasonably nippy, overcast, windy morning. The wren was hopping about in the rocks around the old abandoned Monarch Quarry, the hawks were sailing in the wind. A red-tail, in fact, looked to be hunting for rabbits at the quarry. (Saw a cottontail, early, but before the hawk showed up.)
At home, the robins are still constructing a nest—possibly in the ivy around the chimney.
Gonna snow tonight.
Grandeur Peak Area List At 8:02 a.m., sun time, I hiked a few hundred feet up a mountain.
1. American Robin* 2. House Finch** 3. Rock Pigeon* 4. Spotted Towhee 5. Pine Siskin (v) 6. Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay 7. Northern Flicker (v) 8. Black-capped Chickadee 9. Song Sparrow* (v) 10. Black-billed Magpie* 11. Turkey Vulture 12. Cooper’s Hawk 13. Red-tailed Hawk
Elsewhere
14. House Sparrow (v) 15. Lesser Goldfinch (v) 16. California Quail
Mammals
Mountain Cottontail Mule Deer
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
