It was hard for me to choose a high point of this morning’s short, extraordinarily sweet hike with dog. We were late to hit the trail, and left early because of errands that needed running. But, dang, did the birds put on a show.
Several first-of-year birds, a “lifer” subspecies—and at one point early on, from where I stood, I took decent photos of four bird species.
I was most excited, however, to solve a puzzle that’d been plaguing me for a week or more: what bird was making that faint, cricket-sounding call as it flew swiftly, intermittently, and (apparently) invisibly above us on our morning hikes? I’d been referring to it as “that cricket bird,” thinking the sound a vocalization. But this morning I finally caught sight of the source of the sound—a tiny hummingbird zipping away overhead.
Ah-ha! But which?
For some reason, I decided aloud that it must be a broad-winged hummer. And when I finally got home and looked it up, I was right! In fact, the Cornell Lab’s All About Birds website describes this wing-trill as having “a cricketlike quality to it.” Puzzle solved! (And what a relief!)
(Although I’ve marked today’s as a “first-of-year” sighting, the hummer has been hanging around for a week or more.)
Grandeur Peak Area List Beginning at 8:30 a.m., I hiked several hundred feet up a mountain.
Monhegan List
From midday Friday, 26 May 2016, to midday Monday, 29 May 2016, I hiked all over the island. (Alphabetical list includes species seen from the ferry both to and from Monhegan.)
1. Alder Flycatcher (v)
2. American Black Duck
3. American Crow
4. American Goldfinch
5. American Redstart
6. American Robin
7. Atlantic Puffin
8. Baltimore Oriole
9. Belted Kingfisher
10. Black Guillemot
11. Black-and-white Warbler
12. Black-capped Chickadee
13. Black-throated Green Warbler
14. Blackburnian Warbler
15. Blackpoll Warbler
16. Blue Jay
17. Brown Thrasher (v)
18. Canada Goose
19. Cattle Egret
20. Cedar Waxwing
21. Chestnut-sided Warbler (v)
22. Common Eider
23. Common Grackle
24. common Loon
25. common Raven
26. Common Tern
27. Common Yellowthroat
28. Double-crested Cormorant
29. Eastern Kingbird
30. Eastern Wood-pewee
31. European Starling
32. Gray Catbird
33. Great Black-backed gull
34. Great Blue Heron
35. Green Heron
36. Hairy Woodpecker
37. Herring Gull
38. Laughing Gull
39. Magnolia Warbler
40. Mallard
41. Mourning Dove
42. Mourning Warbler
43. Northern Cardinal
44. Northern Gannet
45. Northern Mockingbird
46. Northern Parula
47. Orange-crowned Warbler
48. Peregrine Falcon
49. Philadelphia Vireo
50. Purple Finch
51. Red-breasted Nuthatch
52. Red-eyed Vireo
53. Red-winged Blackbird
54. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
55. Roseate Tern
56. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
57. Ruby-throated Hummingbird (v)
58. Scarlet Tanager (v)
59. Song Sparrow
60. Sora
61. Tree Swallow
62. White-breasted Nuthatch
63. White-eyed Vireo
64. Yellow Warbler
v = Voice only
Beech Hill List On 29 May 2017, beginning at 2:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American Goldfinch (v)
2. Chestnut-sided Warbler (v)
3. Eastern Towhee (v)
4. Song Sparrow (v)
5. American Crow
6. Tree Swallow
7. Turkey Vulture
8. Savannah Sparrow
9. Eastern Phoebe
10. Gray Catbird
11. Common Yellowthroat (v)
12. Northern Cardinal (v)
Beech Hill List Beginning at 6:30 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Black-throated Green Warbler (v)
2. Chestnut-sided Warbler
3. Common Yellowthroat (v)
4. Red-eyed Vireo (v)
5. Ovenbird (v)
6. Downy Woodpecker (v)
7. Rose-breasted Grosbeak (v)
8. Pileated Woodpecker
9. American Goldfinch
10. Veery
11. Tufted Titmouse** (v)
12. American Redstart (v)
13. American Crow* (v)
14. Eastern Towhee
15. Alder Flycatcher
16. Gray Catbird
17. Yellow Warbler
18. Black-and-white Warbler** (v)
19. Cedar Waxwing (v)
20. Mourning Dove*
21. Field Sparrow (v)
22. Eastern Phoebe
23. American Robin
24. Chipping Sparrow**
25. Song Sparrow**
26. Tree Swallow
27. Nashville Warbler (v)
28. Savannah Sparrow
29. Black-capped Chickadee (v)
30. Northern Cardinal*
31. Common Raven
32. Black-throated Blue Warbler
33. Hermit Thrush (v)
34. Eastern Wood-pewee (v)
Elsewhere
35. Blue Jay
36. Common Grackle
37. Herring Gull
38. Northern Mockingbird
39. Rock Pigeon
40. House Sparrow
41. European Starling
42. Double-crested Cormorant
43. Red-tailed Hawk
44. Great Blue Heron
45. Broad-winged Hawk
v = Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere
