Common yellowthroat.
The budding time is long gone. Early blooms have faded, have given way to young fruit and seeds and berries. First nest lie fallow. Birds have scattered and flown. Today while hiking Beech Hill with Jack, I found a tiny eggshell.
Eggshell.
The deerflies weren’t as bad today—perhaps because of the cooler, drier air—although a fellow we met at the parking lot claimed to have killed at least twenty-five of them. Or maybe he did just that, saving us from worse swarms. Not that they didn’t swarm. They did. All the way up and back. But none lit long enough to bite, and they didn’t much bother us at all.
The birds, meantime, were exhibiting their usual mid-summer behavior. Occasional calls, skittishness, little families flitting about. The woods rang with the calls of vireos, mostly, but also a vociferous hermit thrush. I finally caught sight of a chestnut-sided warbler that’s been singing from the same tree for four or five days—perched way up in the canopy. Towhees in the hedgerows. And we surprised some big ol’ turkeys just off a stretch where berry brambles line the trail. Twice I went eye to eye with one through the tangles, but the turkeys wouldn’t pose for portraits.
At the summit, a stout wind blew. Heard the subtle peeps of an alder flycatcher and spotted a couple yellowthroats. The wind carried the voices of Savannah, song, and field sparrows, off singing from somewhere. (I did spy a single Savannah diving into a clump of grass.)
Clouds.
Heard only one veery. Saw some robins. Admired the bluish tinge of the barrens.
Before very long, I’ll be having blueberries on my cereal and blackberries—my favorite—straight off the vine.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (v)
2. Ovenbird* (v)
3. Common yellowthroat
4. Eastern towhee
5. American robin*
6. Gray catbird*
7. Chestnut-sided warbler
8. Cedar waxwing*
9. American crow*
10. Veery (v)
11. American goldfinch* (v)
12. Hermit thrush (v)
13. Wild turkey
14. Alder flycatcher (v)
15. Song sparrow* (v)
16. Savannah sparrow (v)
17. Field sparrow (v)
18. Black-capped chickadee (v)
19. Black-throated green warbler* (v)
20. Eastern wood-pewee (v)
Elsewhere
21. Northern cardinal (v)
22. Herring gull
23. Mourning dove
24. Double-crested cormorant
25. Chipping sparrow (v)
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, double-crested cormorant, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, field sparrow, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, veery, wild turkey
