American kestrel.
For whatever reason, this has been a great spring for woodpeckers. Red-bellieds, and Yellow-bellieds, and Pileated ’Peckers galore. And flickers. I forgot to mention yesterday that I stopped to count the number of notes in a particular flicker’s call at Beech Hill. A flicker’s call is so rapid and long, it was not an easy thing to do. I kept losing track—until I realized I could easily reckon in groups of eight. Forty-seven notes. That’s a lot.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (female).
Today was sunny. The early trails were drier still than yesterday. Birds were about but seemingly not as visible. I did hear my first Purple Finch in a while—it was performing its vireo-like call.
No pictures, though, until Jack and I got up and over and down to Beech Hill Road, where I heard the telltale syncopated drumming of a Yellow-Bellied Woodpecker. Same tree as a couple days ago. A loud one. We stopped, I turned back a ways. The drumming moved to a quieter piece of wood—which turned out to be the same utility pole the Pileated Woodpecker’s been using. As I began to take a video of the drumming male, a female showed up, and the pair of them bobbed noisily up and down in a sort of courtship display I’d never seen. And soon after, I noticed three of them marching up a sloping tree trunk—two males on either side of the female, I’m pretty sure.
The Chipping Sparrow was singing down there, too, so I decided to use the note-counting trick I’d learned with the flicker. The chippy’s rapid call—about the same speed as the flicker’s, now that I think about it—included twenty-three notes.
Back up at the summit, a sparrow hawk showed up, and I got a few photos of it sweeping and hovering over the barrens. Then, back along the lower wooded trail, again I heard a Winter Wren. I wonder if a pair will be nesting down there somewhere this season.
As for woodpeckers, four species today: flicker, hair, sapsucker, pileated. Woodpeckers entertain me.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:30 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Northern Flicker (v)
2. American Robin*
3. Northern Cardinal (v)
4. House Finch** (v)
5. American Crow*
6. Black-capped Chickadee
7. Purple Finch† (v)
8. Herring Gull*
9. Mourning Dove* (v)
10. Pileated Woodpecker (v)
11. Brown-headed Cowbird (v)
12. Hermit Thrush
13. Eastern Towhee
14. Song Sparrow**
15. Eastern Phoebe
16. American Goldfinch (v)
17. Hairy Woodpecker
18. Red-winged Blackbird
19. Blue Jay
20. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
21. Fox Sparrow
22. American Kestrel
23. Winter Wren (v)
Elsewhere
24. House Sparrow
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American kestrel, American robin, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, brown-headed cowbird, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, fox sparrow, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, purple finch, red-winged blackbird, song sparrow, winter wren, yellow-bellied sapsucker
