American crow.
Warmth. Humidity. Stickiness and deerflies. Droplets in the understory. Moths like fairies. Mushrooms. Vireo and ovenbird, goldfinch and yellowthroat, waxwing and catbird and veery. Dark. Quiet. Suddenly, wet shoes.
Mourning dove.
Deerflies. Buzzing in the background. Chickadees in the distance. And veeries. Voices of veeries like fountains of mist.
Mist in the forest. Mushroom and fern. Ascending a trail. Regular footfalls. No sound except birdsong, heavy breathing, a panting dog. Perspiration under my hat brim. Sweat soaking my back.
Emerging into a field. Distant bay shrouded. Song sparrow somewhere. Field sparrow. Savannah sparrow. White-throated sparrow. Chipping sparrow. Blue jay.
And thrushes. Veeries. A hermit thrush. A wood thrush, ethereal. And robins. Robins with young robins. A robin’s tit-tit-tit-tit. The song of a robin from a perch on the summit. Declarative, matter-of-fact. Savannah sparrows flitting ahead of us on the trail: last year’s birds, this year’s birds. Yellowthroats’ check! check! The sudden, disembodied cuu, cuu of a black-billed cuckoo.
Crow on a spruce tree. Dove on a snag. Towhee calling from a birch tree. Silhouettes against a colorless sky.
Descending through the trees. The world dims. Flies buzz. Ovenbird walks in deep shadow. The call of a black-throated green warbler. The call of a black-throated blue. Moths like fairies. Miniature mushrooms like jewels against the forest floor.
The parking lot in sight. Suddenly, the gobble of a wild turkey.
Eastern towhee.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 8:15 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. Ovenbird
3. American goldfinch (voice)
4. Common yellowthroat
5. Cedar waxwing (voice)
6. Chestnut-sided warbler
7. Gray catbird (voice)
8. Eastern towhee
9. Veery (voice)
10. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
11. Song sparrow
12. American crow
13. Mourning dove
14. Field sparrow
15. Savannah sparrow
16. Hermit thrush (voice)
17. Blue jay (voice)
18. Yellow warbler (voice)
19. White-throated sparrow (voice)
20. American robin
21. Chipping sparrow (voice)
22. Wood thrush (voice)
23. Purple finch (voice)
24. Black-billed cuckoo (voice)
25. Barn swallow
26. Herring gull
27. Alder flycatcher
28. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
29. Black-throated blue warbler (voice)
30. Wild turkey (voice)
Elsewhere
31. Northern cardinal
32. American redstart
33. House sparrow
Mushrooms.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, barn swallow, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, field sparrow, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, ovenbird, purple finch, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, veery, white-throated sparrow, wild turkey, wood thrush, yellow warbler
