30 March 2023

Posts Tagged ‘northern harrier’

Mud Season

Wednesday, March 29th, 2023
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 29 March 2023.
Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Red-tailed Hawk, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 29 March 2023.
Red-tailed Hawk.

What a morning. Nippier than yesterday but much brighter, and with a wide array of bird species. In fact, after five or six days of eighteen or nineteen (mostly nineteen) spp. on my list, today I ended up with twenty-one. (Was happy enough to have had twenty, until I looked at photos this evening and saw one of a raven.)

Captain Jack and I had fun. Didn’t meet anyone else on the trail until we’d nearly finished our round-trip. Highlights for me were the pair of harriers, the pair of red-tails, a posting yellow-rump, and more.

March is about over. Mud Season is nearly here. Soon I’ll be able to report many more firsts-of-year.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m. sun time (8 stupid DST), I hiked all trails.

1. Tufted Titmouse
2. White-breasted Nuthatch
3. Black-capped Chickadee
4. Downy Woodpecker
5. American Goldfinch
6. American Crow
7. Pileated Woodpecker
8. Brown Creeper
9. Herring Gull
10. American Robin
11. Red-winged Blackbird
12. Northern Cardinal
13. Blue Jay
14. Yellow-rumped Warbler
15. Song Sparrow
16. Northern Harrier
17. Eastern Bluebird
18. Red-tailed Hawk
19. Red-breasted Nuthatch
20. Common Raven
21. Hairy Woodpecker

Elsewhere

22. Mallard
23. Wild Turkey

(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere

†First-of-year

Springy

Saturday, March 25th, 2023
Downy Woodpecker, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 25 March 2023.
Downy Woodpecker.

Oddly, it being a Saturday, dog and I didn’t meet anyone else on the trail this morning. Not counting wild birds. Because the air—chilly though it was—still seemed awful springy.

Notable on the list were the cries of a Red-shouldered Hawk, the booming drums of a partridge, and a harrier flyby. Bluebirds and yellow-rumps still, along with woodpeckers, tits, corvids, a couple gulls, and a sweetly singing Song Sparrow.

Supposed to snow a little tonight and rain tomorrow, but I don’t expect it to be any less springy.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:46 a.m. (7:46 fake time), I hiked all trails.

1. American Crow*
2. Northern Cardinal** (v)
3. Red-winged Blackbird
4. Black-capped Chickadee**
5. American Robin**
6. Hairy Woodpecker (v)
7. Ruffed Grouse (drumming)
8. Tufted Titmouse (v)
9. Red-shouldered Hawk (v)
10. Downy Woodpecker
11. Song Sparrow**
12. American Goldfinch (v)
13. Yellow-rumped Warbler (v)
14. Eastern Bluebird
15. Blue Jay (v)
16. Dark-eyed Junco
17. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v)
18. Northern Harrier
19. Herring Gull* (v)

Elsewhere

20. Mallard

(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere

†First-of-year

End of Winter

Sunday, March 19th, 2023
Black-capped Chickadee, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 19 March 2023.
Black-capped Chickadee.

I knew it’d be nippier than yesterday, but wasn’t expecting to get snowed on at dog and I started up the main Beech Hill trail this morning. Sure enough, a brisk west wind was blowing little flakes around, and I was thankful I decied to wear my winter coat. Captain Jack, of course, is always wearing his winter coat.

Not as many bird species as yesterday, but noteworthy were Mourning Dove, Herring Gull, another Killdeer, and a raven.

Spring arrives tomorrow, sneaking up on me. Wonder what spring’ll bring.

(This afternoon, driving Route 90, I spied a solitary Northern Harrier.)

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:34 a.m. (8:34 fake time), I hiked all trails.

1. American Crow*
2. Tufted Titmouse (v)
3. Black-capped Chickadee**
4. Mourning Dove (v)
5. White-breasted Nuthatch (v)
6. Herring Gull*
7. Killdeer (v)
8. Common Raven (v)
9. American Robin (v)

Elsewhere

10. Northern Harrier

Mammals

Eastern Gray Squirrel

(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere

†First-of-year

 
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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