A warm, thawy, slushy, breezy morning. Several birds on the hill—including a fly-by Red-tailed Hawk—but I figured I’d swing by the harbor anyway, see what’s what. Windier when I got there at high tide, but the water birds were cooperative. In fact, I saw the first Red-Necked Grebe I’ve seen in I don’t know how long exactly.
Loon eating a crab, pair of Horned Grebes, black-backs. Good times.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 9 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. White-breasted Nuthatch (v) 2. Tufted Titmouse** 3. American Crow* 4. Northern Cardinal** (v) 5. American Robin 6. Herring Gull* 7. Red-tailed Hawk 8. Black-capped Chickadee**
Elsewhere
9. Wild Turkey 10. Rock Pigeon 11. Mallard 12. Great Black-backed Gull 13. Common Loon 14. Horned Grebe 15. Red-necked Grebe† 16. Turkey Vulture†
v = Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year bird
Up early for the annual National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count (CBC) for our neck of the woods. This year, we diverged a bit from our customary first leg—the Rockland Breakwater—to make sure we recorded a noteworthy bird in our region: a Yellow-throated Warbler that had been seen for the past several days on the grounds of the Samoset Resort. Got it.
Common Ravens.
The weather was balmy compared to most CBCs I remember—low- to mid-30s (F). (Typically, it seems like it’s been 12 degrees with a high wind.) But that meant odd birds, and not that many of ’em. Instead of a dozen or so Purple Sandpipers, for instance, we got one. Instead of fifty-plus species, we got forty-something. Since I never do the afternoon trip, I got thirty-four.
But those included two “warblers”: the yellow-throated and a Yellow-breasted Chat (arguably not really a warbler)—only the second of that species I’ve ever seen. Also a pair of vocal ravens flew over, and we had a little flurry of bird activity near the cemetery, and we counted about a hundred coots.
Ring-billed Gull.
Afterward, I rescued a house-bound Jack and we took a quick Beech Hill hike. Only two species up there today.
Windy as hell tonight.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 2:15 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American Crow* (v)
2. Black-capped Chickadee* (v)
Elsewhere
3. American Goldfinch
4. Herring Gull
5. Mallard
6. House Sparrow
7. Common Raven
8. Yellow-throated Warbler
9. Ring-billed Gull
10. Canada Goose
11. Common Eider
12. Red-necked Grebe
13. Horned Grebe
14. White-breasted Nuthatch
15. American Black Duck
16. Great Black-backed Gull
17. Long-tailed Duck
18. Surf Scoter
19. Purple Sandpiper
20. Black Guillemot
21. Great Cormorant
22. Bufflehead
23. Yellow-breasted Chat
24. Rock Pigeon
25. Tufted Titmouse
26. Brown Creeper
27. Downy Woodpecker
28. Red-tailed Hawk
29. Hairy Woodpecker
30. Common Goldeneye
31. Bonaparte’s Gull
32. American Coot
