Black-and-white warbler.
I felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.
Ruby-throated hummingbird.
Rose early. Cold, overcast morning. House finch and house sparrow out there. Also crows and a phoebe. A hummingbird in the shrubbery. Spent all day at my desk as it rained intermittently. Left to do errands at the end of the day—starlings, gulls, and pigeons in town—then headed to the wooded Beech Hill trail.
Three or four vehicles pulling in and out of the parking lot, just like yesterday. A robin in the sugarbush again, and a few silent warblers flitting about the leafing-out hardwoods at its edge. A yellow warbler in the same tree as yesterday, but these were migrating birds—I watched them move from tree to tree, making their way slowly toward the northwest.
A goldfinch flew over, same place as yesterday.
More warblers again at the little glade part-way up the trail. Yellowthroats lurking. The alarm notes of white-throated sparrows. Foggy again at the upper fields, and again Jack and I stopped there for a while—standing on the little boardwalk, in fact—to watch more silent warblers move through. Yellow-rumps, a black-and-white, a parula. Also a blue-headed vireo. Towhees and catbirds, too.
Yellow-rumped warbler.
Fog again rolled past Beech Nut, and the same solitary savannah sparrow flitted furtively across the grass. A robin sat on the chimney. No kestrels or other hawks. Heard a song sparrow sing.
Coming down the lower trail, I heard no thrush—but I did hear a jay, a crow, ovenbirds, and a chestnut-sided warbler.
No flitting phoebe. However, my species total again reached exactly twenty. (Granted, a different list today, but still.) Once or twice I felt uninfluenced by time. Today and yesterday merged and blurred. Same weather, same time of day, same sounds, most of the same birds even—and in most of the same places.
Weird.
Returning, I saw a mourning dove on a utility line. Back home, a titmouse was calling out back. I didn’t see the resident nuthatches of phoebes, but I’m pretty sure they’re still there. The note of a cardinal in the distance.
Black-and-white warbler.
Everything’s wet tonight. The trees are dripping—exactly as they did twenty-four hours ago.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5 p.m, I hiked the wooded trails.
1. American robin
2. Rose-breasted grosbeak (voice)
3. Yellow warbler
4. Eastern towhee
5. Ovenbird (voice)
6. American goldfinch (voice)
7. Herring gull (voice)
8. Black-capped chickadee
9. White-throated sparrow
10. Common yellowthroat
11. Song sparrow (voice)
12. Gray catbird
13. Yellow-rumped warbler
14. Blue-headed vireo
15. Black-and-white warbler
16. Northern parula
17. Savannah sparrow
18. Blue jay (voice)
19. American crow (voice)
20. Chestnut-sided warbler (voice)
Elsewhere
21. House finch
22. House sparrow
23. Eastern phoebe
24. Ruby-throated hummingbird
25. European starling
26. Rock pigeon
27. Mourning dove
28. Tufted titmouse
29. Northern cardinal
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, blue-headed vireo, chestnut-sided warbler, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, European starling, gray catbird, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern parula, ovenbird, rock pigeon, rose-breasted grosbeak, ruby-throated hummingbird, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-throated sparrow, yellow warbler, yellow-rumped warbler
