Black-and-White Warbler.
Every so often I come across interesting mammals during my daily Beech Hill hikes with dog. Deer, mostly—three or four of them just a week or so ago—but also porcupines, hares, a woodchuck once. Plenty of squirrels and smaller rodents, of course. Plus, I just missed a young moose once—although I didn’t get to see the black bear that showed up around the bee hives a couple years ago. But I’d never seen a coyote until today. And what a coyote.
Black-capped Chickadees.
Jack and I had arrived before 7 and hiked a few hundred yards through the woods—first-of-year Ovenbirds all over the place—and had just gotten up near the fringes of a small clearing, when I heard it. A snort, like a muffled sneeze: huff! I looked in its direction and thought I saw, through the leafless tangles, the flanks of a deer, moving slowly, almost pausing, but then I saw that this animal had a grayish coat of longer hair, and then I glimpsed its canine head, and I right away thought, That’s the biggest coyote I’ve ever seen. It was the size of a German shepherd dog. A large German shepherd.
The coyote was only about fifty or sixty feet away from us, but it didn’t look in our direction. We’d reached a level point, and it was moving parallel to us but headed the other way. I had to bob and lean to see it through the intervening undergrowth—and then it slipped into a patch of brush. The thing was friggin’ huge.
Only then did Jack catch its scent. I’ve never seen him so anxious, agitated, and alert, his snout raised, pulling at the leash, looking around. The coyote was nearly twice Jack’s size, it looked like to me, but that would put it at a hundred pounds, more wolf-sized. But Maine coyotes are nearly all wolf hybrids, from what I understand, having moved here from out west via Canada. The encounter made me nervous, too, but we both loosened up within five minutes or so.
Trout Lily.
And the rest of the hike was nice, although the early sun turned to overcast. Many species today—although I never saw an Ovenbird.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:45 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Ovenbird† (v)
2. Hermit Thrush
3. White-breasted Nuthatch
4. American Robin*
5. Eastern Towhee
6. Tufted Titmouse (v)
7. American Goldfinch* (v)
8. Mallard*
9. Yellow-rumped Warbler
10. Hairy Woodpecker (v)
11. Black-and-White Warbler
12. Brown-headed Cowbird**
13. American Crow*
14. Mourning Dove*
15. Northern Flicker (v)
16. Black-capped Chickadee**
17. Pileated Woodpecker (v)
18. White-throated Sparrow
19. Tree Swallow
20. Song Sparrow**
21. American Woodcock
22. Savannah Sparrow (v)
23. Herring Gull*
24. Blue Jay (v)
25. Field Sparrow (v)
26. Broad-winged Hawk (v)
27. Chipping Sparrow (v)
28. Double-crested Cormorant
29. Osprey** (v)
30. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
31. Red-winged Blackbird
32. Eastern Phoebe
Elsewhere
33. Rock Pigeon
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird
Saddle and Mark.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, American woodcock, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, broad-winged hawk, brown-headed cowbird, chipping sparrow, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, field sparrow, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, mallard, mourning dove, northern flicker, osprey, ovenbird, pileated woodpecker, red-winged blackbird, rock pigeon, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, yellow-rumped warbler
