This morning dog and I hiked a calm, cool quiet, early autumn trail. Migration was going on—many yellow-rumps, a kinglet, White-throated Sparrows—but after four sweet days on an island, it felt mostly like being back amid close family.
Best family photo? A close-up of a resident chickadee.
[On our morning hike, I dropped my Garmin device. Didn’t notice till we got back to the truck. So in afternoon, I went back without Jack—and, by golly, someone had found it and left it on a bench at the hut. Added a raven.]
Beech Hill List Starting at 8:03 a.m. EST (9:03 DST) and again at 1:09 (2:09), I hiked all trails.
Two Beech Hill hikes today: a quick, early one with Jack-my-dog, and a later, longer one with a group of curious kids on a middle school field trip. Both were fun.
Ten species early and another six later—the latter ones being most interesting (including an eagle accompanied by hawks). Alas, the last bird on my list was deceased: a dead Black-and-white Warbler I found lying along the trail near the summit. My guess is the bird flew into a window of the hut and managed to flutter across the lawn a ways before succumbing to its injuries. Whatever the case, it’s always sad to find a dead bird.
Migration is risky no matter who you are, and some migrants don’t make it to their destinations. I tossed the little warbler into a soft, shady patch of grass.
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:30 a.m. EST (8:30 DST), I hiked all trails.
The temperature dipped into the 50s (F) overnight, and a stout breeze was blowing when dog and I headed up the wooded trail. Very few birds made themselves known at first—my list had only five or six species by the time we reached the summit—but one of them (I found out later) proved to be rather exciting.
Not until I looked at my photo of the Swainson’s Thrush did I recognize it. (I’d assumed it was a Hermit Thrush, one of which I’d seen shortly before.) I’ve encountered only a handful of the species at Beech Hill—usually, it seems, at about this season. This one turned out to be today’s highlight.
Tomorrow—for the first time in I cannot remember how long—we might not go hiking in the morning. There’s a tropical storm warning: We’re in the path of Hurricane Lee. Gonna be very wet and very windy. We shall see!
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:14 a.m. EST (8:14 DST), I hiked all trails.
1. Eastern Wood-pewee (v) 2. Tufted Titmouse (v) 3. Hermit Thrush 4. Swainson’s Thrush 5. American Crow* 6. Black-capped Chickadee** 7. Common Yellowthroat (v) 8. Eastern Towhee (v) 9. Song Sparrow** 10. Red-breasted Nuthatch 11. Turkey Vulture 12. American Goldfinch 13. American Robin (v) 14. Blue Jay** (v)
Elsewhere
15. Carolina Wren (v) 16. House Finch (v) 17. House Sparrow (v) 18. Herring Gull 19. Osprey 20. Rock Pigeon 21. Mallard
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
