Alder flycatcher.
This day dawned cloudless, and the sun warmed the landscape in a hurry. A few of the usual birds calling about my place—cardinal, song sparrow, house finch, house sparrow—as well as some faint, plaintive cries of hatchlings and/or fledgings. In fact, I think I got a pretty good listen to some juvenile cardinals (they emit a series of rather sharp rapid notes), but the adults escorted them away in a hurry. By late-morning, I thought I might take an early bike ride.
Mourning dove.
Which I did. Figured I’d try to make a longer circuit up through Camden and back to the Rockport Village post office by the time it closed at noon. Chipping sparrows were singing beside the roadways as I raced along as fast as I could go. An osprey screamed as I sprinted up the last steep slope. Pulled in just as they were about to lock the door. Whew.
After collecting my mail, as I strapped on my backpack outside, I spied the osprey circling not far above me in the still-cloudless sky. It’s nice to live in a place that has nesting ospreys.
Traffic along Route 1 was high today, what with the North Atlantic Blues Festival going on. Jack and I finally headed up to Beech Hill in early evening. Just before turning into the parking lot at the wooded trailhead, I heard a cardinal singing brightly from the trees.
Vireos singing, three or four of them, but not much else right away. We did flush the same two doves as we did yesterday, and in the same place. Beyond the doves, birds’ voices came in clusters—crow and towhee, chickadee and goldfinch and yellowthroat, waxwing and robin. About half-way up, I noticed a large collection of gray feathers on the trail. Looked to me like the work of a hawk—a broadwing, perhaps—and the remnants of a catbird. Perhaps not coincidentally, I heard no catbirds on the hill today.
At the corner of the upper fields, I had my eye (and ear) out for the alder flycatcher I’d spotted yesterday, and it did not disappoint. In fact, I heard two—the parents, I presume—one on either side of the trail. Got a blurry photo of the second one hunkered down in a little cavity in the foliage.
Feathers.
Up at Beech Nut, we met a sailing couple from Florida—Ned and Carolyn—and had a nice conversation while watching sails in the bay. I added to my list song sparrow, savannah sparrow, and the phoebe nesting in the eaves of the hut.
But coming down—again—I heard no hermit thrush, no parula or black-throated green warbler. I did hear veeries and the voice of a pewee and (finally) the call of an ovenbird. (Ovenbirds have been really quiet the past couple days.)
Back home, the big waning moon rose behind a thin veil of clouds. A few fireflies flashed in the oak trees. And the faint strains of blues wafted by from away over at Rockland Harbor.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 5:30 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Northern cardinal (voice)
2. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
3. Mourning dove
4. American crow
5. Eastern towhee (voice)
6. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
7. American goldfinch
8. Common yellowthroat (voice)
9. Veery (voice)
10. Cedar waxwing (voice)
11. American robin
12. Alder flycatcher
13. Song sparrow
14. Eastern phoebe
15. Tufted titmouse (voice)
16. Savannah sparrow
17. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
18. Ovenbird (voice)
Elsewhere
19. House finch
20. Gray catbird
21. House sparrow
22. Herring gull
23. Rock pigeon
24. Osprey
25. Chipping sparrow
26. American redstart
Float plane.
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, osprey, ovenbird, red-eyed vireo, rock pigeon, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery
