Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Got up early figuring I’d have a nice, long birding hike with dog—but there was a gray overcast, the temperature was in the thirties, and I saw a few tiny snowflakes floating around out there. So, screw that plan. Had breakfast instead, surfed the web a bit. About forty-five minutes later, I saw blue sky, and it didn’t seem so cold anymore, and off we went.
Eastern Phoebe.
The sun never stayed out for long, but, damn, it felt good to be hunting birds again. No leaves on trees, not a lot of migrants, just one warbler species (yellow-rump, of course)—but plenty of excitement.
Met up with a couple descending with their dog—Jack and I had met them before—and they said they’d seen a hawk, and I’d mentioned seeing a hovering Kestrel yesterday, and I motioned toward the sky above the barren, and there was a Kestrel, hovering. (Saw another down the eastern slope.)
Down in the bottomlands, I heard a drumming sapsucker, first of the year.
As we were returning along the wood fringe, a harrier flew over, and I got a nice look through my binoculars, and way above the hawk I saw a vee of northbound birds—I mean waaay above, insanely high and away. Double-crested Cormorants.
Then a kingfisher flew over. (A what? A kingfisher—I heard its rattle.)
And heading back down to the parking lot, out of nowhere, came the loud, strident song of a Carolina Wren. In thousands of Beech Hill hikes, that’s only the second of seen or heard up there.
April bouquet, Beech Hill Preserve, Rockport, Maine, 25 April 2015.
I can dig a Carolina Wren.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 9:15 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Black-capped Chickadee**
2. American Robin
3. Northern Cardinal** (v)
4. Purple Finch (v)
5. Tufted Titmouse** (v)
6. Northern Flicker** (v)
7. Eastern Towhee
8. Chipping Sparrow
9. White-throated Sparrow (v)
10. Eastern Phoebe
11. American Crow*
12. Yellow-rumped Warbler
13. American Kestrel
14. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
15. American Goldfinch
16. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker† (drumming)
17. Pileated Woodpecker (v)
18. White-breasted Nuthatch
19. Brown Creeper
20. Hermit Thrush
21. Northern Harrier
22. Double-crested Cormorant†
23. Belted Kingfisher† (v)
24. Song Sparrow** (v)
25. Osprey†
26. Herring Gull*
27. Carolina Wren† (v)
28. Blue Jay (v)
Elsewhere
29. House Finch (v)
30. Mourning Dove
v = Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year bird
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American kestrel, American robin, belted kingfisher, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, brown creeper, Carolina wren, chipping sparrow, double-crested cormorant, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, northern harrier, osprey, pileated woodpecker, purple finch, ruby-crowned kinglet, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow-bellied sapsucker, yellow-rumped warbler
