Autumn is close to two-thirds over. This day was about half-clear, not too breezy, and right about freezing when dog and I started up the wooded trail. Not a mad rush of birdies about—chickadees were probably best represented again—but enough to keep me on my toes.
Couple corvids, couple woodpeckers, couple finches. Then, at one point on our descent through the woods, I heard the distinctive voices of grosbeaks—Evening Grosbeaks.
I thought I’d heard some a week or two (or three?) ago, but I couldn’t be sure. And the fact that I cant recall seeing any at all in decades made me doubt it anyway. But these—these birds awakened my memories of all the grosbeaks that used to hang out around here when I first moved to the Maine coast. Even got a glimpse of yellow as they flew overhead.
Compared the sounds on my GoPro video with the Cornell Lab’s snippets, and I have no doubt that’s what they were. Cool. Was the highlight of our good hike, pretty much, on this day in the latter half of fall.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:19 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. American Crow*
2. Blue Jay (v)
3. Black-capped Chickadee**
4. Hairy Woodpecker
5. American Goldfinch
6. Red-breasted Nuthatch (v)
7. Yellow-rumped Warbler (v)
8. Downy Woodpecker
9. Evening Grosbeak†
10. Eastern Bluebird (v)
11. American Robin (v)
Mammals
Eastern Gray Squirrel
(v) Voice only
*Also elsewhere
**Voice only elsewhere
†First-of-year
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, downy woodpecker, eastern bluebird, eastern gray squirrel, evening grosbeak, hairy woodpecker, red-breasted nuthatch, yellow-rumped warbler
