Eastern towhee.
Last night I dreamed I was sneaking up on a little bird for a photo when it flew toward me and lit on my hat—which was disappointing at first, until I realized that maybe I could take a photo of the shadow of the bird sitting on my hat. I even saw the shadow in some sunlight against some rocks, but I woke up before taking the photo.
Dragonfly.
Sunlight did splash against the rocks and trees and earth and everything this morning. Another gorgeous day. I didn’t hurry right over to Beech Hill, though; instead, I puttered around making coffee and breakfast and just kind of not being in any kind of hurry. It’s nice to take things slow sometimes.
Still a redstart singing out back, and a house finch out front.
Dog and didn’t make it up to the wooded trail until late morning when—somewhat surprisingly, considering the spectacular Sunday weather—we were again the first ones there. The usual vocal birds were singing still (warblers and veery and vireo). And the usual edge birds were calling from the area of the upper fields (towhee, alder flycatcher, yellow warbler—but no catbird).
We met a couple other hikers at the summit, folks we’d met before, and talked birds a bit. Saw a couple pair of tree swallows zipping about in the vivid blue sky. On the way down the open trail, we met other couples—four in all today—and saw other familiar birds (field sparrow, goldfinch, chippy). Returning, I spotted a raven soaring high to the east. It then folded its wings an dropped like an arrow out of sight.
Eastern wood-pewee.
Back at Beech Nut, I happened to look up to see what looked like a cormorant flying over in a sort of odd, leisurely fashion. Had I not snapped a couple distant, grainy photos of it just for the heck of it, I never would’ve identified the bird later as a glossy ibis. Definitely a first on the hill for me.
Descending through the lower woods, we came upon a wood-pewee singing high in the oak grove. This little flycatcher has one of my favorite calls, so I decided to try for a short video of it—if I could spot it up there. (They tend to sit motionless on a snag and sing for a while, then flutter out to catch a fly.) I did find it finally, but my damn camera’s video function auto-focuses on the main field of vision, which inevitable contained bright, higher oak leaves, and the bird would end up blurry. I must’ve spent close to a half-hour under those oaks training my camera up at that bird. When I finally gave up and looked down, dog was lying patiently on the trail, waiting patiently.
As we reentered the sugarbush, Jack alerted on something—and I spotted a little gang of turkeys hurrying away. And back at the pickup, I heard the call of a great crested flycatcher.
Chipping sparrow.
And what a sweet, sunny, cool spring day.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 11:30 a.m., I hiked all trails.
1. Ovenbird
2. Chestnut-sided warbler
3. Common yellowthroat
4. Red-eyed vireo
5. Veery
6. Herring gull
7. American robin
8. Eastern towhee
9. Black-capped chickadee
10. American crow
11. Alder flycatcher
12. American redstart
13. Black-and-white warbler
14. Yellow warbler
15. Song sparrow
16. American goldfinch
17. Eastern phoebe
18. Field sparrow
19. Tree swallow
20. Chipping sparrow
21. Common raven
22. Glossy ibis
23. Eastern wood-pewee
24. Black-throated green warbler
25. Wild turkey
26. Great crested flycatcher
Elsewhere
27. House finch
28. House sparrow
29. Mourning dove
30. Northern cardinal
Glossy ibis.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated green warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common raven, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, field sparrow, glossy ibis, great crested flycatcher, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, northern cardinal, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, song sparrow, tree swallow, veery, wild turkey, yellow warbler
