Chestnut-sided warbler.
The world seemed cooler and sunnier this morning than it was yesterday when I arrived at the Beech Hill parking lot with Jack, my dog. The time was about a half-hour later (6:30 am.), the temperature about ten degrees colder (50 degrees (F)). The first two songs I heard came from warblers—black-throated green, ovenbird.
Eastern towhee (female).
On the way up, the usual birds flitted and called. The white-throats sang their varied songs. By what sort of sounded like paired calls, I thought we’d come upon the brown thrasher, so I hung around to rule out a catbird and then spotted not one but two gray catbirds lurking in the area. A chestnut-sided warbler kept behind a patch of suddenly large poplar leaves, preventing a portrait. At one point, I waited at least two minutes for the bird to move—but it didn’t. Just kept singing “pleased, pleased, pleased to meet you” from just on the far side of a crook in the tree.
Near the top, I heard a couple black-and-white warblers singing. Dog and I crept up. Then the birds began chipping and chasing. There seemed to be three of them—three males, apparently, all looking to claim the same territory and/or drive the others off. They chipped and chased chattered, then sang their sibilant song, the chipped and chased and chattered. At one point, two of them popped up into a tree just off the trail, and I aimed my camera at them, but the thing had gone to sleep from being dormant so damn long. Frustrating.
At the top of the hill, the west wind came rushing powerfully up the trail. Descending the open slope, I heard a Nashville warbler singing very near. This species seems somewhat shy in my experience: I have only one bad photo. A little thrill built as I realized how very near the bird was. We walked slowly toward its voice. Did not see the bird. Then it appeared to move, and I cocked my head, and the song came from behind me. We slowly retraced our steps. Now it came from its original location. Then I realized it must’ve been directly above me. Too late. The song stopped—then resumed from far across the road. Damn.
Hermit thrush.
That’s when I ran into the nice woman who walks her black lab puppy on the hill. I expressed a thought I’d just had, that no more than one in ten good bird photo opps seem to pan out for me. Within a minute, I was snapping off some decent shots of a colorful c-s warbler.
Another moment, enduring a swarm of black flies in an unsuccessful attempt to photograph yellowthroat, a female towhee hopped into a limb very close to me, calling its alarm note. As Forrest Gump opined, you never know what you’re gonna get.
Counted 28 species on the hill this morning, including nine wood-warblers, some Canada geese in flight, and a kestrel hovering in the breeze. The we took another walk up in early afternoon—en route, I noticed for the first time that lilacs and apples are blooming—and were overflown by vulture and osprey.
I listed a couple of other birds while out cycling later this afternoon—and endured by far the most frustrating occurrence of the day. Riding south to Rockland with a stout wind in my face didn’t phase me much, chiefly because I expected that coming back north would be easy. Then I ran a few errands in town. But by the time I headed back north, no more than twenty minutes later, the wind had shifted and was blowing from that direction, which made the long ride to Rockport Village even longer. But after a mile or two I was smiling. It wasn’t an 180-degree shift, after all, just to make things difficult for me. It was a west wind, really, and the shift was slight.
And my return trip south was a breeze.
Black-and-white warbler (with moth).
Beech Hill List
At 6:30 a.m., I walked all trails.
1.Black-throated green warbler (voice)
2. Ovenbird (voice)
3. Black-capped chickadee
4. Herring gull (voice)
5. Common yellowthroat
6. American crow
7. Eastern towhee
8. White-throated sparrow
9. Chestnut-sided warbler
10. Black-and-white warbler
11. Northern parula (voice)
12. Black-throated blue warbler (voice)
13. American goldfinch
14. Gray catbird
15. Cedar waxwing (voice)
16. Yellow warbler (voice)
17. Song sparrow
18. American robin
19. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
20. Mourning dove
21. Savannah sparrow
22. Tree swallow
23. Tufted titmouse (voice)
24. Hermit thrush
25. Nashville warbler (voice)
26. Canada goose (voice)
27. Blue jay (voice)
28. American kestrel
At 1 p.m., I walked the open trail.
29. Turkey vulture
30. Osprey
Elsewhere
31. European starling
32. Chipping sparrow (voice)
33. Rock pigeon
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American kestrel, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, Canada goose, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, European starling, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, hermit thrush, herring gull, mourning dove, Nashville warbler, northern parula, osprey, ovenbird, rock pigeon, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tree swallow, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler
