Rained overnight, and the morning trails were watery when Captain Jack and I hit the hill. Chilly enough for a sweatshirt, but calm, with air that had the fragrance of fall.
Plenty of birds—I suppose thanks to a change in wind direction—including a minor fallout of yellow-rumps, a very vocal kinglet, and some vocal woodpecker species. Most notable would be an Ovenbird that was hanging out with a Hermit Thrush. (They do look a little alike, I guess.)
To top things off, in afternoon, another dog (Oscar) and I walked the Rockland Breakwater—which will explain a few species listed below.
Beech Hill List Starting at 8:01 a.m. EST (9:01 DST), I hiked all trails.
Another nippy morning—low-60s (F) to start—that warmed into a lovely late-summer day. On the hill, birds were stirring, including one species I hadn’t encountered since spring: Scarlet Tanager. I heard a high, loud, abrupt call that I didn’t recognize coming from up in the wooded canopy. Turned out to be a female tanager. (Learned another bird call today!)
It was a cool one, this morning. I hesitate to say I smelled a whiff of fall, considering autumn’s still a month away, but the weather conditions weren’t the only signs of the changing seasons. A number of migratory birds seemed to be revving up for a journey.
A pair of sharpies, for instance, circling in the cloudless sky, the smaller male occasionally charging at the larger female. Vultures also circled overhead. And in the woods tiny warblers chased and flitted nervously.
“Time doth flit,” wrote Dorothy Parker. It won’t be long, I suppose.
Beech Hill List Starting at 7:06 a.m. EST (8:06 DST), I hiked all trails.
