11 July 2025

Posts Tagged ‘gray catbirdt’

Waterlogged

Tuesday, May 27th, 2014
Gray Catbird, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 27 May 2014.

Gray Catbird.

Yet another rainy and/or foggy morning. I’ve never seen a May like this. Hard to take photos when you have no light to speak of. Damn chilly, too.

Oak grove, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 27 May 2014.

Oak grove.

On the other hand, I did list twenty-eight species—thanks to my still-fairly-sensitive ears—and got some moody photos of the foggy bottomlands.

I expect more rain in the morning.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:15 a.m., I hiked all trails.

1. Ovenbird
2. Chestnut-sided Warbler
3. Red-eyed Vireo
4. American Robin**
5. Scarlet Tanager (v)
6. Black-throated Green Warbler (v)
7. American Crow*
8. Veery (v)
9. Eastern Towhee
10. Gray Catbird**
11. Tufted Titmouse (v)
12. American Redstart** (v)
13. Mourning Dove* (v)
14. Black-and-white Warbler (v)
15. American Goldfinch
16. Yellow Warbler**
17. Alder Flycatcher (v)
18. Ruby-throated Hummingbird (humming)
19. Nashville Warbler (v)
20. Common Yellowthroat**
21. Field Sparrow
22. Song Sparrow**
23. Eastern Wood-pewee (v)
24. Pileated Woodpecker (v)
25. Blue Jay (v)
26. Hermit Thrush (v)
27. Black-throated Blue Warbler (v)
28. Blackburnian Warbler (v)

Elsewhere

29. House Sparrow (v)
30. Herring Gull

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere

 

Warbs

Thursday, May 8th, 2014
Nashville Warbler, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 08 May 2014.

Nashville Warbler.

My friend and bird expert Bryan Pfeiffer posted a wonderful piece today about warblers—their allure, their magic, their ability to make birders out of nearly anyone (given the chance). Read it.

OK, now that you’ve done that, here’s my little story of this morning with Jack at Beech Hill.

Raccoon, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 08 May 2014.

Raccoon.

Sunny and chilly, but not too chilly. Breezy, but not too breezy. Right away I heard—then saw—a Blue-Headed Vireo. In short order: Ovenbird, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler. After a little while, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Parula, and my first-of-year Nashville. I even got a passable photo of the Nashville, a notoriously shy one. (It happened to zip up to a nearby branch while Jack and I were standing completely still.)

Up toward the summit, some minor drama: I noticed movement in the periphery and noticed a raccoon poking about near an old stone wall not thirty or forty feet away and right away began to take a video. It took a second or two for Jack to see it, and he growled and pulled on the leash, which got the coon’s attention, and it scrambled up a nearby tree and posed for a photo.

Ran into some friends down at the Beech Hill Road lot, and we came back up the hill together. Song and Savannah sparrows, Tree Swallows, the jazzy drumming of a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. Still a ton of yellow-rumps moving through on one particular point on the trail.

Not as many birds as yesterday, but no less fun and inspiring.

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 08 May 2014.

Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6 a.m., I hiked all trails.

1. Mallard
2. Blue-headed Vireo
3. Ovenbird
4. Black-throated Green Warbler
5. Eastern Phoebe
6. Black-and-white Warbler
7. Black-capped Chickadee
8. American Robin
9. Eastern Towhee
10. Veery
11. Tufted Titmouse
12. American Crow
13. Northern Flicker
14. Mourning Dove
15. American Goldfinch
16. Common Grackle
17. Common Yellowthroat
18. Northern Cardinal
19. Nashville Warbler†
20. Yellow-rumped Warbler
21. Gray Catbird
22. Tree Swallow
23. Song Sparrow
24. Field Sparrow
25. Northern Parula
26. Brown-headed Cowbird
27. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
28. Double-crested Cormorant
29. Savannah Sparrow
30. Blue Jay
31. Chipping Sparrow
32. Downy Woodpecker
33. House Finch

Elsewhere

34. Herring Gull
35. European Starling
36. House Sparrow

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird

 

Circling raven

Sunday, October 6th, 2013
Common raven, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 06 October 2013.

Common raven.

Sunny and cool to start. Clouds moved in about the time Jack and I were headed up Beech Hill—an early hike for us—where many people and dogs had decided to converge. Nice October Sunday, who could blame ’em?

Early color, from Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 06 October 2013.

Early color.

Spotted a bunch of passerines along the roadsides and in the fringes, but not too many on the busy hill. However, I did catch sight of a raven. It flew, croaking, above the trees along the base of the southern slope—trees just taking on a wash of fall color—and around the base of  the eastern slope and around to the west, where I lost sight of it behind the foliage. It seemed to be circling the hill.

Darker earlier tonight, with a hint of rain in the air.

Beech Hill List

Beginning at 1:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.

1. Black-capped chickadee** (v)
2. Yellow-rumped warbler
3. Song sparrow (v)
4. Eastern towhee (v)
5. Common raven
6. American crow* (v)
7. Northern flicker (v)
8. Gray catbird (v)

Elsewhere

9. Tufted titmouse (v)
10. Herring gull
11. Blue jay
12. Turkey vulture

v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere

 

 
Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson



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