Graupel on Jack.
Even an old guy can learn new things. Today, from my friend Rainy in Montana, I learned the word graupel—those tiny, soft ice pellets you sometimes get in spring. Out in Montana, they also call it “corn snow.” And that’s what started coming down this afternoon just as my dog and I reached the summit of Beech Hill. Innocuous stuff, but it’ll whiten a landscape in a hurry. (Later this evening, it turned to actual—if light—snow.)
American crow.
The morning was sunny and warm-seeming, actually, but clouds moved through in afternoon. Not a lot of wind, but it got a little nippy. I heard the random call of a pileated woodpecker up the hill out back, saw some geese flying low over Clam Cove, heard a bunch of little birds at the hill, saw plenty of crows.
In fact, toward evening, I watched from my back deck as the neighborhood crows did their little bedding down dance, or whatever it is—cawing some, sailing low into various conifers, and finally hiding themselves in the boughs.
Still waiting on woodcocks.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Black-capped chickadee**
2. American crow*
3. Northern flicker (v)
4. White-breasted nuthatch (v)
5. Tufted titmouse*
Elsewhere
6. House finch (v)
7. Pileated woodpecker (v)
8. Herring gull
9. Mourning dove
10. Canada goose
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, Canada goose, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch
