Today was a special day that only happens once a year: Audubon Christmas Bird Count Day. It’d been four years since I’d participated, and I was really looking forward to it. It did not disappoint.
In fact, among the birds we spotted at the Rockland Breakwater (which I hadn’t walked since Jack’s and my return from Salt Lake City back in April) was a lifer for me: Dunlin. Fact is while heading out across the great granite blocks, I nearly stepped on the bird. (OK, it was maybe eight or ten feet away.) There were a pair that I saw (although my birding pals saw a third). Not every day you get a lifer.
Brown Creeper.
Many other species also (see below), and then I returned home for Jack and right away we hiked Beech Hill—albeit a little later than usual.
Notable at the hill were a posing Brown Creeper and the call of an Evening Grosbeak in overflight. Snow up there (not much here, a mile and a half away).
I kinda like the end of the year but, to me, every day is a holiday.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 10:02 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Blue Jay (v) 2. American Crow* (v) 3. Golden-crowned Kinglet (v) 4. Downy Woodpecker** (v) 5. Brown Creeper 6. Evening Grosbeak (v) 7. Black-capped Chickadee** 8. Red-breasted Nuthatch** (v) 9. Northern Flicker 10. Tufted Titmouse (v)
Elsewhere
11. Mallard 12. Herring Gull 13. Great Black-backed Gull 14. Ring-billed Gull 15. House Sparrow 16. House Finch 17. Common Goldeneye 18. Common Loon 19. Horned Grebe 20. Long-tailed Duck 21. Black Guillemot 22. Purple Sandpiper 23. Canada Goose 24. American Wigeon 25. Surf Scoter 26. Bufflehead 27. Red-breasted Merganser 28. Dunlin‡ 29. Common Eider 30. Ring-billed Gull
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year ‡Lifer
This morning’s hike was a fun one. Sub-freezing temps, but calm, with a nearly cloudless sky. In the woods, little birds abounded—chickadees, nuthatches, goldfinches, a couple woodpecker species. Quieter at the summit, until I rounded Beech Nut and spied a Horned Lark.
First of the species I’d seen since last I’d seen one at Beech Hill, at least four—and maybe five or six or seven—years ago. Mostly I’ve seen them in flocks, I think, but this was a solitary bird who posed for a minute.
Thanks, lark.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:51 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American Goldfinch 2. Tufted Titmouse (v) 3. Black-capped Chickadee 4. Hairy Woodpecker 5. White-breasted Nuthatch** 6. Brown Creeper 7. American Robin 8. Horned Lark 9. American Crow* (v) 10. Red-breasted Nuthatch 11. Canada Goose (v) 12. Eastern Bluebird 13. Yellow-rumped Warbler 14. Downy Woodpecker (v)
Elsewhere
15. Ring-billed Gull 16. Herring Gull
(v) Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year
This morning—our first in Standard Time—we hiked the trails at the usual hour, dog and I. Except the clock called it 7 o’clock instead of 8. [Don’t get me started on my feelings about ridiculously stupid DST!] The air was unseasonably warm and a little muggy, and the wind was high.
Few other folks up there at such an “early” hour. Few birds, too—thanks, I figure, to the winds. However, I managed a few photos and a dozen species on my list.
No harriers today, though.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 7:14 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Tufted Titmouse (v) 2. Black-capped Chickadee** 3. White-breasted Nuthatch (v) 4. Purple Finch (v) 5. American Crow* 6. Yellow-rumped Warbler 7. Dark-eyed Junco 8. White-throated Sparrow 9. Blue Jay (v) 10. American Robin 11. Common Raven (v) 12. Song Sparrow
