Hazy view.
Today was much like yesterday, only moreso. Hazier sun, more warmth and humidity, windier. I had to take care of some defective possessions: drove the pickup to the shop to diagnose a pair of dashboard warning lights (not even 7,000 miles on it) and packed up my camera to ship to the service center to take care of a blacked-out electronic viewfinder. That took care of the morning.
Eastern towhee (female).
Meantime, I kept my ears and eyes out for birds. Not a lot to report—house sparrow but no house finch, titmouse but no warblers, only gulls in the sky. Got a little work done, then jumped on my bike. A mighty southwest wind was whipping the thick foliage of the hardwoods, which bent and revealed the bright undersides of their leaves. Bound north, I flew. Bound south, I had to pedal hard to make headway even down hills. The wind buffeted me. Heard song sparrows but no chipping sparrows.
Did a couple late errands before Jack and I took our daily Beech Hill hike. (Brought my old camera again.) The wind in the trees of the wooded trail made a steady rushing sound above us but kept the swarms of deer flies off their mark. The rush—the loud, persistent whisper—also hid the voices of birds, what voices there were.
There weren’t many. Vireos, of course (the most vocal species on the hill today). And I heard the queedle! of a blue jay—first one of those in a while. Managed to catch the calls of crow and waxwing, flycatcher and towhee, but had only about a half-dozen species on my list by the time we emerged into the upper fields, when I happened to see a hummingbird zip away in front of us along the trail. First one of those in a while, too.
Blueberries.
I neither saw nor heard a single bird at the summit. I did, however, hear the sigh of the wind in the spruce boughs and admired a hazy, hazy view in all directions.
Returning, I added only two species to my list: a catbird mewing from somewhere and the notes of a chickadee down at the parking lot.
Truly, it seemed a very odd day.
Tonight, the air remains warm—somewhere in the mid- to upper-seventies (F), I’d say—and stars are out. The wind has died down quite a bit, but still you can hear its whispers. I find myself sort of wonder what it’s saying.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. Blue jay (voice)
3. Cedar waxwing (voice)
4. American crow (voice)
5. Common yellowthroat (voice)
6. Alder flycatcher (voice)
7. Ruby-throated hummingbird
8. Eastern towhee
9. Gray catbird
10. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
Elsewhere
11. Song sparrow
12. American goldfinch
13. House sparrow
14. Tufted titmouse
15. Herring gull
16. Northern cardinal
Tags: alder flycatcher, American crow, American goldfinch, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, eastern towhee, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, northern cardinal, red-eyed vireo, ruby-throated hummingbird, song sparrow, tufted titmouse
