Song Sparrow.
I have a couple sparrow tales today. The first is about all the Song Sparrows that were singing everywhere at soggy, breezy, raw Beech Hill this late afternoon. The one that posed for a photo had his tail comically pressed aside by a twig. That is, a tale about a tail.
Birch.
The second sparrow story is about a Field Sparrow I heard singing loud and long at the Beech Hill gate—first of the species this year.
I guess I even have a third: only a couple days after I heard my first towhee of the year, sure enough, they were singing all over the place up there today (towhees being big, colorful sparrows).
Peepers peeping like pickled peppers out there tonight—and frogs in general croaking like crazy out in the world at this luscious, muddy time of liquidity. If you hope ever truly to love the goddess Nature, you’ve first got to fall in love with her amphibians.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. Eastern Towhee
2. American Robin*
3. Black-capped Chickadee**
4. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
5. American Crow*
6. Song Sparrow**
7. American Goldfinch (v)
8. Pileated Woodpecker (v)
9. Yellow-rumped Warbler
10. Northern Flicker
11. Northern Cardinal** (v)
12. Tufted Titmouse
13. Field Sparrow† (v)
14. White-breasted Nuthatch (v)
15. Downy Woodpecker
Elsewhere
16. Herring Gull
17. Mourning Dove
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year-bird
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, downy woodpecker, eastern towhee, field sparrow, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, ruby-crowned kinglet, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, yellow-rumped warbler
