Song sparrow.
Awoke this morning to the sound of the promised rain. The rain let up some, then it drizzled some, then it got foggy. A damp day, gray and chilly. But also birdy.
Birch bark.
Out doing errands, I heard tons of birdsong in town—cardinals, robins, starlings, song sparrows, mourning doves, house finches, house sparrows, gulls, crows—and even got a look at a formation of four (FOY) double-crested cormorants sailing inland from Clam Cove. And this evening, at Beech Hill, when I didn’t really expect to encounter many birds, turns out I encountered a lot of ’em.
First, dueling cardinals. Song sparrow, chickadee, and junco. Crow and nuthatch. And then the sharp calls (and loud drumming) of what sounded like a pair of pileated woodpeckers. The voice of a phoebe. For the second straight day, the voices of geese—must be a littl epond off down the slope somewhere—and the song sparrow has returned to the bushy patch about half way up the trail.
Tonight it’s damp still. Supposed to be damp for the next three of four days, in fact. But that’s OK. It’s spring.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:15 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Northern cardinal**
2. Song sparrow**
3. Dark-eyed junco (v)
4. Black-capped chickadee**
5. American crow*
6. White-breasted nuthatch (v)
7. Pileated woodpecker (v)
8. Eastern phoebe (v)
9. American robin**
10. Canada goose (v)
11. Blue jay (v)
12. Northern flicker (v)
13. Tufted titmouse** (v)
14. White-throated sparrow (v)
Elsewhere
15. House finch (v)
16. European starling
17. Herring gull
18. House sparrow
19. Mourning dove
20. Double-crested cormorant
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird
Tags: American crow, American robin, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, Canada goose, dark-eyed junco, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, European starling, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow
