Saw a few Snow Buntings on the hill today—a nippy, clear-sky day with a slight breeze and ice on the trails. Also saw or heard thirteen other species, including a Brown Creeper, a few woodpeckers, yellow-rumps, and a whole mess of bluebirds.
This time of year—so close (a month away) to the winter solstice—has its own familiar feel to it at this latitude (and longitude). I know it well. And I love it, this thrilling, miraculous feeling of the certainty of impending winter, but with brains enough and stores enough to survive until spring.
In just a few weeks the photoperiod will begin again to lengthen. Faith. Faith in our tilted planet’s dependable seasons.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:19 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American Crow* 2. American Goldfinch 3. Brown Creeper (v) 4. Black-capped Chickadee 5. Eastern Bluebird 6. Blue Jay 7. White-breasted Nuthatch** 8. Downy Woodpecker 9. Northern Flicker 10. Hairy Woodpecker (v) 11. Snow Bunting 12. Yellow-rumped Warbler 13. Red-breasted Nuthatch 14. Dark-eyed Junco (v)
Elsewhere
15. Mallard 16. Wild Turkey
Mammals
American Red Squirrel (v)
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
A morning much like yesterday’s—a bit colder (20s (F)), not quite as breezy, perhaps a bit more overcast. Not as many bird species, but quite a few more individual birds.
The species with the most numbers: yellow-rumps. Goldfinches came in a close second. Also a bunch of chickadees. Three woodpecker species, several crows—and even a departing raven. But most noteworthy would be the bluebirds.
A little gang at the summit, perching, posing. Even a single individual way down by the wooded trailhead. Any day with bluebirds—even a nippy day in November—is a good ’un.
(Also notable: en route early, saw a handsome buck loping across a field.)
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:19 a.m., I hiked most trails.
Only occasionally do I see cardinals at Beech Hill, and usually only along the roadsides at either parking lot. Today I encountered three, very near the summit. I couldn’t figure out exactly what they were up to—other than a young one seemed to be calling to an adult, while the adult looked to be hiding out in a bush. (Thinking about it now, it sounds familiar in a human sort of way.) But one of the birds flitted up directly in front of dog and me, then sat there, waiting for me to take it’s photograph.
Thanks, cardinal.
Otherwise, another harrier (this time being harassed by crows), a random towhee (I thought they’d all gone by now), and my first Pileated Woodpecker in a while, down in the woodlands. And a lot of other cool birds.
I feel lucky to be allowed to hike Beech Hill every day with my best friend.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 8:07 a.m., I hiked all trails.
