Eastern bluebird.
Somehow, I got really busy today. (Perhaps because it’s Monday.) And mainly focused on a computer screen, until I happened to look out the window and see the sun starting to slip behind the trees. Dog and I agreed that time was a-wastin’.
Eastern bluebird.
Just a lovely day out there—another one. Latest in a series. (Again I could’ve ridden my bike around, I realize in retrospect.) When we hopped out of the truck in the Beech Hill parking lot, right away I heard the voices of multiple bird species: nuthatch, chickadee, brown creeper, jay. I also spotted a crow flapping silently over the road.
About half-way up the hill, in the very same place as we encountered them the past two days: bluebirds. There were about the same number of them. I watched them flit back and forth along the same stretch of trail and perch in the same birches—even pose on the same weed stems. Were they the same birds? Has this same small flock hung around just there since Saturday? Not sure, but I kind of doubt it. In fact, I happened to watch this flock bob away toward the southwest, where we encountered them on our way back down, when they took off again, southward. Perhaps bluebirds fly in similar-sized flocks. Surely they’re drawn to that stretch of trail—a new-mown field with plenty of grub, small trees nearby to perch in.
I’ll never know this, but frankly I don’t care.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 3 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. White-breasted nuthatch
2. Black-capped chickadee**
3. Brown creeper (v)
4. American crow*
5. Blue jay (v)
6. Eastern bluebird
7. Northern flicker (v)
8. Hairy woodpecker (v)
9. Tufted titmouse (v)
Elsewhere
10. House sparrow
11. Common loon
Note: I heard the loon’s voice in the wee hours of this morning. (Oddly, I don’t recall seeing a herring gull all day.)
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, brown creeper, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, northern flicker, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch
