Two straight rainy weekend mornings. But this one cleared up in a hurry—by a little past 9 the sun was beating down between tall piles of clouds, so dog and I headed strait to the hill.

Bright sunlight, wet woods. Coming up the trail, when a bit of a breeze hit, it seemed almost like rainfall on a sunny day—such a smattering of water droplets pelting down through the understory. More birds calling this morning than yesterday afternoon, but not outlandishly more. In fact, I’d listed only one or two more than yesterday by the time we’d reached the summit.

Always helps to have a bright day, though, photograph-wise. Got a nice shot of a yellowthroat. And savannah sparrows were again flitting all about the open trails—in stark contrast to yesterday—and occasionally stopped to pose. But most remarkable was the field sparrow that decided to accost us coming back up from the Beech Hill Road parking lot, as we passed through the thick young poplar groves there. Its sharp chip, chip alerted me. Not an overly familiar note. So I stopped and soon had a very near view of the bird—so near, in fact, that I couldn’t get a focus with my long lens. Finally it moved far enough away for me to snap a couple pictures. I’d never been that close to a field sparrow before.

Coming back up over the hill, I spotted a swallow rising and dipping and fluttering out over the fields toward the bay. But I couldn’t get an ID. Tree or barn, most likely, judging by prior sightings.

Diving back into the woods, I heard a hermit thrush again, but again no pewee.

Still, all five sparrows made appearances today (though, ironically, I was most worried that I’d detected no evidence of field sparrows for more than half our hike). On the other hand, kind of oddly, not a single veery. Perhaps its that fledgling time of year for the rusty-brown thrush of Beech Hill.

* * *

Later in the day I bicycled around the county for a while. The trip brought me by Aldermere Farm, which nearly always sports a good-sized flock of Canada geese—and today was no exception. (I heard a blackbird there, as well.)

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 9:45 a.m., I walked all trails.

1. American crow
2. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
3. Red-eyed vireo (voice + shadow)
4. Cedar waxwing
5. Chestnut-sided warbler
6. Eastern towhee
7. Gray catbird
8. American robin (voice)
9. Common yellowthroat
10. American goldfinch (voice)
11. Alder flycatcher (voice)
12. Northern flicker (voice)
13. Song sparrow
14. Herring gull
15. Eastern phoebe
16. Savannah sparrow
17. Yellow warbler (voice)
18. Chipping sparrow (voice)
19. White-throated sparrow (voice)
20. Field sparrow
21. Blue jay (voice)
22. Unknown swallow
23. Hermit thrush (voice)
24. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
25. Hairy woodpecker (voice)

Elsewhere

26. Northern cardinal
27. House sparrow
28. Rock pigeon
29. Canada goose
30. Red-winged blackbird
31. House finch