With sunshine angling down between fluffy white clouds, I headed up the wooded trail for a change with Captain Jack this morning. Quite a little wind blowing (nearly lost my hat a time or two), and fewer bird species than even yesterday, but dog and human hikers were numerous compared to recent days—no doubt because of it being Indigenous Peoples Day.
Thrushes again, and woodpeckers, and woodpeckers, but yellow-rumps remain the most numerous birds migrating through.
Yellow sun and chill in the air and falling leaves—definitely autumn.
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:59 a.m. EST (8:59 DST), I hiked all trails.
1. Downy Woodpecker 2. Black-capped Chickadee 3. Blue Jay (v) 4. Hermit Thrush 5. Red-bellied Woodpecker (v) 6. Yellow-rumped Warbler** 7. American Goldfinch (v) 8. American Crow* (v) 9. Song Sparrow (v)
Elsewhere
10. Herring Gull
Mammals
Meadow Vole
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
A gray overcast greeted dog and me as we started up the main trail this morning, with chilly, windy, misty air. After a while the sky turned partly sunny—still, the wooded trails were streams from the big rains, and I slipped in the mud at one point. (No damage done.)
In such adverse conditions (possibly also an inconvenient wind direction), few birds species made themselves known. But we always seem to find delights. Like the scattering of Hermit Thrushes we startled in the woods.
They’re the commonest thrush on the hill these days, but they only sing that ephemeral song in spring‚ and they’ll be moving south pretty soon anyway.
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:32 a.m. EST (8:32 DST), I hiked all trails.
They grow up so fast! This year’s new bird crop, I mean. They’ve got to, of course—fall migration is right around the corner (a month or less away for most migratory species). And the young ’uns are starting to come out and introduce themselves to the wider world.
Today’s most cooperative juvie? A young catbird that posed long enough for a fairly decent portrait.
(Also, a Meadow Vole scrambled across the trail in front of dog and me.)
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:09 a.m. EST (8:09 DST), I hiked all trails.
1. Blue Jay (v) 2. Black-capped Chickadee 3. American Goldfinch** 4. Eastern Phoebe (v) 5. Red-eyed Vireo (v) 6. Cedar Waxwing (v) 7. White-breasted Nuthatch** 8. Eastern Wood-pewee 9. Eastern Bluebird (v) 10. Tufted Titmouse (v) 11. Black-and-white Warbler 12. Red-bellied Woodpecker (v) 13. American Crow* 14. Eastern Towhee 15. Gray Catbird 16. Song Sparrow 17. Yellow Warbler 18. Common Yellowthroat** (v)
