Foggy again early, but it burned off into an overcast pretty quickly. Hit the hill with Jack and right away started listing birds. A lot of birds. Had nearly a score before we reached the summit.
Palm Warbler.
One of those was quite apparent: a Snowy Owl, a male far down the eastern slope. Hard to miss the little white snowman against the snowless landscape. I feel sure this was the same bird I saw two days ago—and likely the bird the crows were mobbing in the fog yesterday, after all—but he looked a lot dryer and happier.
Had a lot of interesting birds, including a first singing Savannah Sparrow and a first-of-year Brown Thrasher (which I heard before spotting). Another towhee, but still no glimpse. Bluebirds and Tree Swallows and yellow-rumps and Palm Warblers.
All in all a wondrous hour’s walk this morning.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 8:15 a.m., I hiked the open trail (and then some).
1. Song Sparrow** 2. American Goldfinch (v) 3. White-throated Sparrow (v) 4. Purple Finch (v) 5. Brown-headed Cowbird 6. American Robin (v) 7. Downy Woodpecker (v) 8. Northern Cardinal** (v) 9. Eastern Phoebe** 10. Tufted Titmouse 11. Black-capped Chickadee** 12. Chipping Sparrow** 13. Field Sparrow 14. Blue Jay** (v) 15. Northern Flicker (v) 16. Yellow-rumped Warbler 17. Herring Gull* (v) 18. American Crow* 19. Common Raven (v) 20. Palm Warbler 21. Tree Swallow 22. Eastern Bluebird 23. Snowy Owl 24. Eastern Towhee (v) 25. American Kestrel 26. Brown Thrasher† 27. Double-crested Cormorant 28. Savannah Sparrow 29. White-breasted Nuthatch (v) 30. Pileated Woodpecker
Elsewhere
31. House Finch (v) 32. Mourning Dove 33. House Sparrow (v) 34. European Starling 35. Common Grackle 36. Rock Pigeon
v = Voice only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year bird
Rain and wind this morning. Couldn’t find a break in the green on the weather radar, so Jack and I just headed up in it. Lots of fog on the hill blowing by in the southwest wind.
A few birds nonetheless—including a first-of-year towhee—but toward the end of our hike, when I heard a few crows mobbing something in the barrens over a little rise.
“I wonder if it’s a Snowy Owl,” I said to Jack.
And guess what? It was.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 9:45 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Song Sparrow* 2. American Goldfinch (v) 3. Eastern Towhee† (v) 4. Eastern Phoebe 5. American Crow* 6. American Robin (v) 7. Northern Cardinal (v) 8. Northern Flicker (v) 9. Tufted Titmouse (v) 10. Snowy Owl
Elsewhere
11. Herring Gull 12. Brown-headed Cowbird
v = Voce only *Also elsewhere **Voice only elsewhere †First-of-year bird
A rather typical morning for February—nippy, breezy, bright. ice grips on. Quite a few little birds at the parking lot, along with crows and ravens.
At the summit, I spied a crow cawing rather near the hut, down the eastern slope a bit, and wondered if it might be alerting to a fox or something. The voice seemed growly and deliberate. Alas, I got fixated on the crow itself, and not until I got near enough to spook it into flight did I also spook my first Snowy Owl of the season. Got photographic proof, at least
Later, a pair of bluebirds flew into the leafless crown of a trailside birch tree.
Beech Hill List Beginning at 8:15 a.m., I hiked the open trail.
