Chestnut-sided warbler.
I had thought about delaying my hike with Jack today, knowing it would be foggy, rainy, and cool, but when I checked the weather radar, I noticed a thick mass of green getting very near our general area. So we high-tailed it for Beech Hill.
Northern cardinal.
And we hiked at a quicker pace than usual. (Figured I wouldn’t get many chances for spectacular photos anyway.) By damn, quite a few birds were singing, perhaps anticipating the coming weather. The usual species, mostly, but also a loon out in the fog somewhere, a particularly vociferous cardinal (pretty sure it’s the hill’s only resident redbird), and another black-billed cuckoo holding forth. But perhaps the nicest surprise, for me, was catching sight of a silent great crested flycatcher hunting near the tops of the young trees just below the summit fields.
That’s about the time it began to rain, as it did—lightly—our whole trip back down. Then I drove around to fill out my report at the open trailhead, where I heard a rose-breasted grosbeak and a Nashville warbler.
The rest of today was foggy, rainy, cool, and mostly spent inside.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 8 a.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Ovenbird**
2. Red-eyed vireo** (v)
3. Black-throated green warbler**
4. Chestnut-sided warbler**
5. American robin
6. Common yellowthroat** (v)
7. Eastern towhee
8. Black-capped chickadee (v)
9. Gray catbird** (v)
10. Black-and-white warbler (v)
11. American goldfinch (v)
12. American redstart
13. Veery
14. Yellow warbler**
15. Eastern wood-pewee
16. Northern cardinal**
17. Great crested flycatcher
18. Common loon (v)
19. Alder flycatcher (v)
20. Song sparrow (v)
21. Hermit thrush (v)
22. Eastern phoebe
23. Black-billed cuckoo (v)
24. Tufted titmouse (v)
25. Hairy woodpecker (drumming)
26. Black-throated blue warbler (v)
27. Rose-breasted grosbeak (v)
28. Nashville warbler (v)
Elsewhere
29. American crow
30. Herring gull
31. Mourning dove
32. Common grackle
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Great crested flycatcher.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, common grackle, common loon, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, great crested flycatcher, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern cardinal, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, rose-breasted grosbeak, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, yellow warbler
