What a lovely hike this morning with my best friend. Just above freezing, not much of a breeze, mostly overcast—an overcast aglow. Before long I heard a Red-bellied Woodpecker’s call (first in a good while), also a titmouse (first in a little while). No buntings at the summit, but a bunch of bluebirds and yellow-rumps, and a solitary Red Crossbill.
Chickadees up there, too, along with a red squirrel and goldfinches. Saw no one else in the quiet woods, but I did hear the croak-croak of a raven.
Thanksgiving tomorrow. Wonder if we’ll encounter a turkey.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:44 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American Goldfinch** 2. Tufted Titmouse 3. Red-bellied Woodpecker (v) 4. Purple Finch (v) 5. American Crow* 6. Eastern Bluebird 7. Red-breasted Nuthatch 8. Yellow-rumped Warbler 9. Black-capped Chickadee** 10. Downy Woodpecker (v) 11. Red Crossbill 12. Common Raven (v)
Elsewhere
13. White-breasted Nuthatch 14. Herring Gull
Mammals
Eastern Gray Squirrel American Red Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
Autumn is close to two-thirds over. This day was about half-clear, not too breezy, and right about freezing when dog and I started up the wooded trail. Not a mad rush of birdies about—chickadees were probably best represented again—but enough to keep me on my toes.
Couple corvids, couple woodpeckers, couple finches. Then, at one point on our descent through the woods, I heard the distinctive voices of grosbeaks—Evening Grosbeaks.
I thought I’d heard some a week or two (or three?) ago, but I couldn’t be sure. And the fact that I cant recall seeing any at all in decades made me doubt it anyway. But these—these birds awakened my memories of all the grosbeaks that used to hang out around here when I first moved to the Maine coast. Even got a glimpse of yellow as they flew overhead.
Compared the sounds on my GoPro video with the Cornell Lab’s snippets, and I have no doubt that’s what they were. Cool. Was the highlight of our good hike, pretty much, on this day in the latter half of fall.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:19 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American Crow* 2. Blue Jay (v) 3. Black-capped Chickadee** 4. Hairy Woodpecker 5. American Goldfinch 6. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v) 7. Yellow-rumped Warbler (v) 8. Downy Woodpecker 9. Evening Grosbeak† 10. Eastern Bluebird (v) 11. American Robin (v)
Mammals
Eastern Gray Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
Still in the 30s (F) when dog and I hit the trail this a.m. Bright, though, with barely a breeze, and the birds began to let themselves be heard—and seen. Chickadee, titmouse, nuthatch, woodpeckers, jays. They even showed up in numbers: a whole bunch of bluebirds in flight, even more robins bouncing around the treetops, and dozens of cawing crows.
But most fun for me were hawks. First, I spied a Cooper’s Hawk (which had the robins nervous), and later we came upon a handsome Northern Harrier, patrolling low above the blueberry barrens as they do here in both spring and fall. Got a glimpse of one last month, and now another in October.
It’ll be nice to see a “gray ghost” come spring.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 8:06 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Black-capped Chickadee 2. American Robin 3. Brown Creeper (v) 4. Tufted Titmouse 5. Eastern Bluebird 6. Blue Jay 7. White-breasted Nuthatch 8. Downy Woodpecker (v) 9. Hairy Woodpecker (v) 10. Yellow-rumped Warbler 11. Cooper’s Hawk 12. American Crow 13. American Goldfinch (v) 14. Northern Harrier 15. Savannah Sparrow 16. Dark-eyed Junco (v)
Elsewhere
17. Golden-crowned Kinglet (v) 18. Rock Pigeon 19. European Starling 20. Rock Pigeon
Mammals
Eastern Gray Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
