Well, it sure cooled off some from yesterday, with temps not much above freezing. But the clear sky gave the yellow sun a clear shot at everything, and that apparently got the birds excited. House finches singing—at least two males, with dueling songs—and the chirrup! of a house sparrow across the road. Crows, of course, and the resident titmouse, undaunted. Herring gulls in the pale blue of the upper air.

A little wind, but nothing like yesterday’s. Come afternoon, I decided Jack might like a hike along the wooded Beech Hill trails—as I knew I would. We took a quick trip to town first, where gulls and pigeons flew. Leaving by the back way out Old County Road, I saw two northbound turkey vultures soaring low over the trees.

We got to the hill in late afternoon. A spare ridge of old snow lined most of the trail, excepting only where the snow-melt streams flowed. Plenty of mud, and a cool, ripe smell. I appreciated the gurgling runoff for cleaning the mud off my boots, but I worried a little about stepping in some of the fourteen piles of dog poop I counted there last weekend. I.e., I only noticed four or five today.

Saw a chipmunk perched atop a rock; it saw us, too, and skittered down a hole. Then, approaching the sumac grove, I slowed in expectation of robins. Sure enough, I heard their voices up ahead—but also other, strange bird voices. Sweet voices. One, in fact, sounded a lot like a towhee. (Could it be, this early?) The other strange songs seemed sparrow-like, although they were unfamiliar to me. Jack and I walked slowly, sneaking up. Finally I caught sight of the birds, which I recognized (from distant memory) as fox sparrows. I’m not sure I’d ever before heard them sing.

There must’ve been eight or ten fox sparrows flitting about in the low scrub, along with a similar number of robins. One was kind enough to pose for a photo. (The robins weren’t so generous.) Also heard chickadees and a hairy woodpecker. And at about the same place as last weekend, Jack and I flushed a partridge and both watched it sail low and far down the wooded hill.

When we emerged into the open field below the summit, I spotted a couple kites in the air up above Beech Nut. As we got nearer, I saw there were three: a mother, father, and son, looked like, each held the string of a high-flying kite. A good day for it. The fields and hills around the hut spread bright and bronze and brimming with potential energy.

We headed back down along the lower trail and its myriad snow-melt streams. Jack stepped daintily around them for the most part, but I slogged fearlessly through. More robins down there, and another hairy woodpecker.

Back home, I got to thinking of how everyone’s been talking about tonight’s “super moon”—the moon going full, that is, while in an orbit taking it very near its planet. Figured I’d see if I could get a photo of it rising over Rockland Harbor. Jack accompanied me. As I sort of expected, Harbor Park was crowded with cars. A number of folks had cameras already set up on tripods. But I might’ve been the first to spy it—the slim arc of orange rising up beyond the treeline of Owls Head. I don’t really have the camera for such a photo shoot, and I brought no tripod, but I managed a couple passable shots of a moon that seemed afire. Sure enough, it looked like a super big one.

Just now I stepped out into the moonlight. No clouds that I can find. And the nighttime landscape glows about as brightly as any I’m ever likely to see.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4 p.m, I hiked the wooded trails.

1. American robin
2. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
3. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
4. Fox sparrow
5. Ruffed grouse
6. American crow (voice)
7. Black-capped chickadee

Elsewhere

8. Tufted titmouse
9. House finch
10. Herring gull
11. Rock pigeon
12. Turkey vulture

Tags: American crow, American robin, black-capped chickadee, fox sparrow, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, rock pigeon, ruffed grouse, tufted titmouse, turkey vulture

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 19th, 2011 at 8:37 pm and is filed under Lists, Observations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.