Weed fluff, Beech Hill Preserve.
Today’s midday Beech Hill hike with dog was really cool. I’d expected a repeat of yesterday’s crazy-cold day—after all, when I first looked at the thermometer this morning, it read 5 degrees (F)—and it was cold, but it was also still. Very still. And sunny. I didn’t even wear gloves.
The best part of such stillness was the quiet. We stopped many times, just to listen. I listened, Jack listened. I heard the voice of a downy woodpecker. The distant voices of crows. Nearer voices of chickadees. Heard a faraway jetliner. Heard the crackle of gravel under the tires of a pickup about a quarter mile away—then the sound of it roaring up Beech Hill Road.
I simply loved it up there today. I nice, brief, still, riveting snippet of time.
Gonna got snowed on tomorrow.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 12:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Downy woodpecker (v)
2. American crow* (v)
3. Black-capped chickadee**
Elsewhere
4. White-breasted nuthatch (v)
5. Herring gull
6. Mourning dove
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, downy woodpecker, herring gull, mourning dove, white-breasted nuthatch
