Chestnut-sided warbler (juvenile).
Didn’t hike the hill this morning. After the long, busy holiday weekend, I thought sleeping until 7:30 seemed more important. Apparently, Jack did, too. But we couldn’t stay away long, and after work, Beech Hill is where we headed.
Black-capped chickadee.
A late afternoon hike is a lot different from an early morning hike. For one thing, the chances of meeting other humans rises considerably. (E.g., an empty white van greeted us in the Rockville Street parking lot.) For another, the birds are tuckered out and not particularly active and, basically, ready to roost. (No hint of a bird for several minutes.) But after a mostly overcast day—one in which a few rain showers passed very near to the north of us—the sky had cleared by 5 p.m., and the angular afternoon sunlight lit the strange, other sides of the trees along the trail.
Chickadee was the first bird. Heard a few about five minutes in. Then a yellowthroat chipped—and actually sang. Then, maybe a third of the way up, I saw the shape of a plain-looking bird flitting in the undergrowth up ahead; binoculars revealed this to be a red-eyed vireo with a berry in its bill.
Heard a blue jay and a catbird. Heard waxwings overhead. Then, nearing the summit, the first little gang of chickadees showed up—in fact, I’m not sure it was more than just one solitary chickadee—so I stopped to look around. Sure enough, a yellow-rump and a chestnut-sided warbler were hopping about in the scrubby trees near where the chickadee was hanging upside down and raiding a tangled spider web surrounding a little dead branch.
Then came sparrows. A solo savannah still zipping around the open trail—or had arrived in migration to zip around. White-throats and song sparrows remain.
Heard the subtle single-n0te cu! call of black-billed cuckoos at three places on the hill. Heard towhees in the distance. Heard crows.
Chestnut-sided warbler (juvenile).
Coming up, we ran into an athletic young fellow with a leashless dog who growled at Jack. Headed over, we ran into a friendly couple coming up the clear trail. Returning, we saw a mother and her toddler at the summit. On our return trip down the lower wooded trail, I heard the voice of a pewee. Then the voice of a hairy woodpecker. Then a goldfinch. And finally, nearing the parking lot, the urgent chip notes of a cardinal.
And that was that. A nice afternoon hike.
But I couldn’t help wondering about all the silent, hidden birds we didn’t run into up there today. Turkeys, grouse, three or four other species of warbler (at least). Thrushes—robin, veery, hermit, and maybe wood. Pileated woodpecker, downy woodpecker, flicker. Maybe even a red-belly or a sapsucker. Raven. Broadwing. Alder flycatcher and phoebe. One or two other species of vireo. Titmouse. Brown creeper. Kinglets. Dove. Several more I’m forgetting, no doubt.
So, extrapolating: of maybe fifty species of birds on the hill, today I sensed a respectable eighteen.
Chickadee and caterpillar.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:15 p.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Black-capped chickadee
2. Common yellowthroat
3. Red-eyed vireo
4. Blue jay (voice)
5. Gray catbird (voice)
6. Cedar waxwing (voice)
7. Yellow-rumped warbler
8. Chestnut-sided warbler
9. White-throated sparrow (voice)
10. Eastern towhee (voice)
11. Black-billed cuckoo (voice)
12. Savannah sparrow
13. Song sparrow (voice)
14. American crow (voice)
15. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
16. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
17. American goldfinch (voice)
18. Northern cardinal (voice)
Elsewhere
19. Herring gull
20. Broad-winged hawk
21. Mourning dove
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, black-billed cuckoo, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, broad-winged hawk, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
