Yellow-rumped warbler.
This was a funny morning. Not funny ha-ha, rather funny peculiar. We got to the hill a little late, my dog and I, but the day still felt embryonic, and the air chill, and the sunlight angular. Right away we heard the quay! of a red-eyed vireo—and that’s pretty much the only bird we heard or saw for about ten minutes, I’d guess.
Cedar waxwing (juvenile).
Finally, some chickadees piped up. Then I heard a catbird’s mew! Then the cry of a towhee. A young waxwing. Sparrows. Pretty much the typical bird species you’d find on a hill just like this, at just this latitude, at just this time of year.
I wore a T-shirt again, and once I’d worked up a sweat, the choice felt perfect. The antic air rushed loudly in the leafy canopy above the wooded trail, which hampered any IDs based on voice. But I have a feeling there weren’t many of those anyway. Most birds these days are pretty damn silent.
Amid the limbs of the birches in the little grove at the summit, though, sounded a multitude of chip! notes. Throngs of small birds flitted from tree to tree, took off from the tip of a tree and headed away, or arrived out of nowhere to light in the tip of a tree. They were adept at hiding; I didn’t get any great looks except at a couple of yellow-rumps (whose chip note I’m thinking I can now identify). I thought I might’ve seen another Philadelphia vireo, but I can’t say for sure. One little bird—a warbler, no doubt—seemed brilliantly yellow. Then an alder flycatcher popped up out of nowhere suddenly, which was kind of interesting.
But despite the good sunlight I couldn’t seem to manage any decent photos. One yellow-rump. A towhee in the shade. A fuzzy vireo.
Coming back over the summit I stopped to scan a little group of chickadees and noticed a black-and-white warbler among them. It was making no sound at all. Then, nearing he parking lot, I heard both a flicker and a blue jay. That brought the morning’s total species count to sixteen.
Not a lot, true, but every bird has value.
Eastern towhee.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 7:30 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. Gray catbird (voice)
4. Eastern towhee
5. Cedar waxwing
6. White-throated sparrow
7. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
8. American goldfinch
9. Yellow-rumped warbler
10. Alder flycatcher
11. Common yellowthroat
12. Savannah sparrow
13. American crow (voice)
14. Black-and-white warbler
15. Northern flicker (voice)
16. Blue jay (voice)
Elsewhere
17. Herring gull
18. Mourning dove
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, gray catbird, herring gull, mourning dove, northern flicker, red-eyed vireo, savannah sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
