Common yellowthroat.
Summer is barely three weeks old, and already I’m noticing a slip in the photoperiod. It’s a lazy time of tall grass, thick foliage, mild breezes, and dispersing birds. That’s because by now the youngsters are trying their wings, hollering at their parents—witness the raucous crows in the trees up the hill out back of my place—and growing up in a hurry.
Grass, Beech Hill, Rockport, Maine, 11 July 2012.
No one else at the wooded Beech Hill trailhead when Jack and I arrived late in the day. In fact, we met no one at all on the hill. But vireos were calling, as they will all summer. Goldfinches chattering in flight overhead. I heard a bunch of species today (catbirds are singing again, and song sparrows) but saw relatively few. Understandably, they’re hiding out. Like the towhees I could hear flitting about in the undergrowth near a calling male (which I did see). The tiny voices of juvenile chestnut-sided warblers, whining for food. The young yellowthroats are especially secretive—although I did catch sight of a couple of adults for a change.
Swallows flying over Beech Nut. The thin songs of Savannah sparrows carried by the breeze. I think that sound—the wind-blown trills of Savannah sparrows—typifies this time of year for me.
A few ovenbirds were singing, but nowhere near as many as in spring. And I seem never to be able to spot a singing hermit thrush, even if it’s singing very near, and I know I’m looking right at it. But that’s all right. A hermit thrush is mostly meant for listening to.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:30 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (v)
2. American goldfinch* (v)
3. Eastern towhee
4. Cedar waxwing
5. Chestnut-sided warbler (v)
6. Common yellowthroat*
7. American robin
8. Veery (v)
9. Northern flicker
10. American crow* (v)
11. Black-capped chickadee
12. Gray catbird* (v)
13. House finch (v)
14. Savannah sparrow (v)
15. Song sparrow* (v)
16. Yellow warbler (v)
17. Tree swallow
18. Eastern phoebe
19. Hermit thrush (v)
20. Ovenbird (v)
21. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
Elsewhere
22. Herring gull
23. Ring-billed gull
24. Chipping sparrow (v)
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthraot, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, northern flicker, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, ring-billed gull, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, veery, yellow warbler
