Autumn is my favorite season. Always has been. I also love the three other seasons—just not quite as much as fall. Especially here in Northern New England, on the 44th parallel, when the photoperiod changes noticeably throughout the year, and the weather is rich and varied.
This morning’s hike with dog was a chilly, breezy, sunny one. Few birds at first, but as the sun rose and the landscape warmed and the yellow-rumps bounced around in the brush and tree leaves, more species made an appearance. Vultures, a fish hawk, three kinds of sparrow, two thrushes, two corvids—and my little friend, the Brown Creeper.
Not sure why, but I really love Brown Creepers. And this one posed for me in a golden woodland. Thanks, little buddy.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 8:07 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Yellow-rumped Warbler 2. Eastern Bluebird (v) 3. American Robin* 4. American Crow** 5. Hairy Woodpecker (v) 6. American Goldfinch (v) 7. Black-capped Chickadee (v) 8. White-throated Sparrow 9. Northern Flicker (v) 10. Red-breasted Nuthatch 11. Dark-eyed Junco (v) 12. Song Sparrow 13. Savannah Sparrow 14. Blue Jay (v) 15. Turkey Vulture 16. Osprey 17. Purple Finch 18. Brown Creeper
Elsewhere
19. Downy Woodpecker (v)
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
I call ’em “big birds”—hawks and vultures and gulls and ravens and other large species that I see in the sky overhead. This morning’s fun hike with an old pal, for me and Jack, was a long but fun one. And it included several big birds.
Overcast and chilly when dog and I headed up to the preserve. Ordinarily I’d take us to the main trail, where the open air would brighten things photographically—but I spied a scrap or two of blue, so decided on the wooded trailhead. It was the right decision. Not only did the sun emerge, but the morning got warm and humid in a hurry.
And a bunch of birds showed up.
Corvids, nuthatches, thrushes, finches, warblers, woodpeckers, sparrows. Many, many yellow-rumps (about 90, I figured) and a good-sized flock of robins. Surprised a woodcock (no photo, dangit). But the highlight was likely a solitary Blackpoll Warbler—first of year on the hill for me.
No photo of the blackpoll, but here’s a Hermit Thrush.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 8:25 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American Crow 2. Yellow-rumped Warbler 3. American Goldfinch (v) 4. Blue Jay (v) 5. Brown Creeper 6. Black-capped Chickadee 7. Eastern Bluebird (v) 8. Blackpoll Warbler 9. Purple Finch 10. Tufted Titmouse (v) 11. Northern Flicker (v) 12. American Robin 13. Eastern Towhee (v) 14. Hermit Thrush 15. American Woodcock 16. White-throated Sparrow 17. Gray Catbird 18. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 19. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v) 20. Savannah Sparrow 21. Osprey 22. Song Sparrow (v) 23. White-breasted Nuthatch (v) 24. Downy Woodpecker (v) 25. Ruby-crowned Kinglet (v)
Elsewhere
26. Carolina Wren (v) 27. Herring Gull 28. Rock Pigeon
Mammals
Eastern Chipmunk Eastern Gray Squirrel
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
