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Posts Tagged ‘Tennessee warbler’
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
 Alder flycatcher. About midnight last night, a bunch of birds woke up. I’d gone out for one last check of the night sky when I heard little chips and peeps. Then an ovenbird’s crazy call in the trees out back. And a yellowthroat’s song from across the road. I wondered if perhaps some of the chips came from warblers just arrived and looked forward to a sunny morning hike for a change.
 Yellow warbler. And sunny it was. Maybe, had we not had twenty rainy days in May so far, today wouldn’t have felt so glorious—but, man, did it feel glorious. And the early hill was alive with birds.
Warblers, a pair of cowbirds, nuthatches, thrushes. Catbirds, towhees, two kinds of vireo. A chickadee fledgling shivering with excitement when its parent showed up with more food. Then I heard it: the call of my first alder flycatcher of the year. Just yesterday I’d been worrying about the absence of this common local flycatcher; today they were singing from all over the hill. Along with a number of least flycatchers, a great crested, and phoebes. Watched a raven fly over. Then saw a broad-winged hawk fly over. At the upper fields, a hummingbird buzzed by my ear.
Got decent photos of a yellow warbler. (There must’ve been a dozen up there singing.) All resident sparrows were singing, too—well, except for chippies. Down at the Beech Hill Road parking lot, I was surprised to hear the unmistakable trill of a red-bellied woodpecker, another first-of-year bird. (Which reminds me: still no cuckoos.) Then on our return trip, I saw a red-tail soar by, and a pair of crows rose to escort it away. Spotted a pair of kingbirds perched in a little tree beside the trail (first of year). Heard titmouse, tree swallow, dove.
Just before we arrived back at our starting point, I recognized a new warbler song—a loud collection of chips—coming from a newly blooming apple tree near the sugarbush. I thought I recognized the call but wanted a peek. And got one: a Tennessee warbler (also first of year).
Jack and I spent more than two hours on the hill this morning, during which time I added forty-five species to my daily list.
 Tennessee warbler. Not long after, while working at my desk, I heard the cries of laughing gulls from out my open windows. (First laughing gulls of the year.) And later, while taking a sweet, long bike ride, I added a couple more species.
Finally, about 8:30 p.m., I heard the repeated peent! of a nighthawk flying over my place—my sixth first-of-year bird on what sure felt like a glorious day.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Ovenbird
2. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
3. Common yellowthroat
4. Black-throated green warbler
5. Brown-headed cowbird
6. American robin
7. Black-capped chickadee
8. Chestnut-sided warbler
9. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
10. Black-and-white warbler
11. Eastern towhee
12. Veery (voice)
13. American redstart (voice)
14. Rose-breasted grosbeak (voice)
15. Red-eyed vireo
16. Gray catbird
17. Northern parula (voice)
18. Blue-headed vireo
19. Alder flycatcher
20. Common raven
21. White-throated sparrow
22. Blue jay
23. Yellow warbler
24. American crow
25. Least flycatcher
26. Northern flicker (voice)
27. Black-throated blue warbler (voice)
28. Great crested flycatcher (voice)
29. American goldfinch (voice)
30. Broad-winged hawk
31. Ruby-throated hummingbird
32. Wild turkey (voice)
33. Song sparrow
34. Herring gull (voice)
35. Savannah sparrow
36. Field sparrow
37. Eastern phoebe (voice)
38. Hermit thrush (voice)
39. Red-bellied woodpecker (voice)
40. Red-tailed hawk
41. Eastern kingbird
42. Tufted titmouse (voice)
43. Tree swallow
44. Mourning dove (voice)
45. Tennessee warbler
 Ruby-throated hummingbird. Elsewhere
46. House finch
47. House sparrow
48. Laughing gull
49. European starling
50. Chipping sparrow
51. Northern cardinal
52. Cedar waxwing
53. Common nighthawk
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, blue-headed vireo, broad-winged hawk, brown-headed cowbird, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common nighthawk, common raven, common yellowthroat, eastern kingbird, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, European starling, field sparrow, gray catbird, great crested flycatcher, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, laughing gull, least flycatcher, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, northern parula, ovenbird, red-bellied woodpecker, red-eyed vireo, red-tailed hawk, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruby-throated hummingbird, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, Tennessee warbler, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, wild turkey, yellow warbler
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Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
 Yellow-throated warbler. Ever since I caught sight of my first yellow-throated warbler, I’d had a nagging wish to see it again but nearer and for a longer period—i.e., posing for a photo.
 Yellow-throated vireo. But first thing this morning, Kristen and I set off through rain toward Lobster Cove in hopes of spotting the yell0w-breasted chat everyone’s been talking about. After about five minutes, the sun emerged from behind a ceiling of clouds, and we grew hopeful. No chat, though. Nor any of the common warblers we hadn’t yet seen—black-throated green, black-and-white, black-throated blue. We did, however, see a nice aerial dogfight between a merlin and a peregrine.
Then a few of us trekked to the ballfield and around behind the school house and over to the Ice Pond on our mission for new warblers. Instead, we saw a dickcissel and an exotic sparrow or two.
No black-throated green, no black-throated blue. But we did hear from other birders that the yellow-throated warbler was still hanging around. Not until we were headed back for lunch and ran into Bryan Pfeiffer (of Vermont Bird Tours), did we think to take a little side trip along the harbor road to where we saw the yellow-throated yesterday. Sure enough, a couple noted birding experts had their binoculars trained up into some spruces, and before long we were staring ourselves up into a spruce above the road itself at the lovely little bird as it pecked around in the boughs. It lingered. It gave us some great looks. It didn’t seem to mind the little cluster of humans all observing it from just a few feet below. And I got some photos.
That made my day.
But the day wasn’t done: soon after, a couple hundred yards away, we were gazing up into an apple tree that contained a yell0w-throated vireo—another life bird for me. (Not one, but two yell0w-throated songbirds!) And then we saw a Tennessee warbler.
The weather was fickle, breeze and warm, overcast then sunny, a spattering of rain. Tonight the stars have emerged, and I hear the sound of the ocean out my window. Crazily, I ended up with the same number of species as yesterday.
I love this island.
 Brown creeper. Monhegan List
(Not in order of sighting.)
1. Mallard
2. Blue-winged teal
3. Common eider
4. Ring-necked pheasant
5. Northern gannet
6. Double-crested cormorant
7. Great blue heron
8. Osprey
9. Sharp-shinned hawk
10. Merlin
11. Peregrine falcon
12. Herring gull
13. Great black-backed gull
14. Black guillemot
15. Mourning dove
16. Belted kingfisher
17. Yellow-bellied sapsucker
18. Downy woodpecker
19. Northern flicker
20. Eastern phoebe
21. Yellow-throated vireo
22. Red-eyed vireo
23. Blue jay
24. American crow
25. Common raven
26. Black-capped chickadee
27. Red-breasted nuthatch
28. White-breasted nuthatch
29. Brown creeper
30. Carolina wren
31. House wren
32. Golden-crowned kinglet
33. American robin
34. Gray catbird
35. Brown thrasher
36. Cedar waxwing
37. Tennessee warbler
38. Yellow-rumped warbler
39. Yellow-throated warbler
40. Palm warbler
41. Blackpoll warbler
42. Common yellowthroat
43. Chipping sparrow
44. Clay-colored sparrow
45. Savannah sparrow
46. Song sparrow
47. Swamp sparrow
48. White-throated sparrow
49. Dickcissel
50. Rusty blackbird
51. Baltimore oriole
52. Purple finch
53. American goldfinch
 Tennessee warbler.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, Baltimore oriole, belted kingfisher, black guillemot, black-capped chickadee, blackpoll warbler, blue jay, blue-winged teal, brown creeper, brown thrasher, Carolina wren, Cedar waxwing, chipping sparrow, clay-colored sparrow, common eider, common raven, common yellowthroat, dickcissel, double-crested cormorant, downy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, golden-crowned kinglet, gray catbird, great black-backed gull, great blue heron, herring gull, mallard, merlin, mourning dove, northern flicker, northern gannet, osprey, palm warbler, peregrine falcon, purple finch, red-breasted nuthatch, red-eyed vireo, ring-necked pheasant, rusty blackbird, savannah sparrow, sharp-shinned hawk, song sparrow, swamp sparrow, Tennessee warbler, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, yellow-rumped warbler, yellow-throated vireo, yellow-throated warbler
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Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
 Ovenbird. Today dawned pretty much the spittin’ image of yesterday—except for one prominent difference. Chilly? Check. Windy? Check. A hint of autumn?Check. Overcast? Mm, not so much. More like utter cloudlessness.
 Tweety didn't make it. But the Beech Hill birds nonetheless remained mostly silent. And I couldn’t hear the vocal ones from much of a distance, thanks to the rush of the wind up in the still-summery boughs of trees. The long calls of crickets. The remnant feathers of a small bird kill down toward Beech Hill Road. The solitary squawking of a wood frog along a forested trail.
Most engaging were the unpredictable little groups of secretive-yet-antic wood-warblers dodging about in the greenery at various points of the hill. Right away, along the wooded trail, I did hear a black-and-white warbler. Then a small dark shape flitting low through a sparser section of undergrowth seemed suggestive of an ovenbird—and an ovenbird it was, standing there on a bare branch maybe twenty feet away, turning its body this way, then that. A few yellowthroats, as usual.
Toward the summit, among a flurry of white-throated sparrows and chickadees, I spotted a couple yellow warblers—and the second Tennessee of the year up there. Then, amid the spruces, a family of three or four yellow-rumps. Aside from the black-and-white and the yellowthroats’ chips, none made any sound at all.
Not much happening otherwise. I did go out cycling this afternoon—and therefore am pronouncing my treatment for the tick bite (or whatever it is (I’m still not entirely sold)) a qualified success. Saw a turkey vulture taking off from behind some trees. Flap-flap, soar. Flap-flap, soar. Soar.
 White-throated sparrow. Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:15 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. Cedar waxwing (voice)
4. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
5. Black-and-white warbler (voice)
6. Ovenbird
7. Common yellowthroat
8. Eastern towhee
9. White-throated sparrow
10. Gray catbird
11. Tennessee warbler
12. Yellow warbler
13. Song sparrow
14. Eastern phoebe
15. Mourning dove
16. Yellow-rumped warbler
17. Gray catbird
18. American goldfinch
19. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
Elsewhere
20. Northern cardinal
21. Herring gull
22. House sparrow
23. Turkey vulture
Tags: American goldfinch, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, song sparrow, Tennessee warbler, turkey vulture, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler, yellow-rumped warbler
Posted in Lists, Observations | No Comments »
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| Bird Report is a (sometimes intermittent) record of the birds I encounter while hiking, see while driving, or spy outside my window. —Brian Willson |
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