Eastern towhee (juvenile).
Yesterday, I exercised a lot. And drank a lot of water, apparently. Because this morning at about 4:45 I woke up and had to pee. Dog had to pee, too, so we took a quick trip outside. Already it was kind of warm, and birds were singing their wake-up songs—cardinals, robins, crows, catbirds, mourning doves, song sparrows, and more. Went back to sleep for a couple hours. First sound I heard upon awakening: a cicada. A real, full-voiced, bona fide cicada—not the high-pitched whiny bugs I heard a few weeks ago at Beech Hill.
Summer.
Tufted titmouse.
By mid-morning, standing out in the sun, it felt like my ol’ home state of Texas. Sweet and hot. I had the fans going upstairs and down. The thermometer on my kitchen wall showed mid- to upper-80s (F). At about midday, my semi-defective weather station recorded 95 degrees outside. Met a friend for lunch in town. Most passersby had skimpy clothes on—except for a few tourists, who (crazily) wore long sleeves. A little film of perspiration stuck to my skin pretty much all day. Finally, at about 4:30, I headed out on my bike.
A nice ride. As another friend (and fellow cyclist) commented today, “Weather like this you gotta make your own breeze.” Which, combined with rivulets of sweat, created some luscious cooling. Returning fast down Powerhouse Hill, just before my place, I noticed a car pull up beside me, looked over, and a couple young fellows were grinning and cheering out the open passenger window. “Thirty-five miles an hour!” they hollered. “Yeah!” I gave a big grin back at ’em.
Helps to go as fast as you can.
Then Jack and I took off for Beech Hill. (I even flipped on the A/C in the pickup en route.) Plenty of deer flies on the hill again. Interestingly, plenty of birds, too—not as many as most days, but more than yesterday. Thrushes, for instance—robins, veeries, and a hermit thrush. (Oddly, though, no crows.) I got a photo of a juvenile towhee. And suddenly a titmouse appeared out of nowhere and flitted up into a nearby tree. I can’t remember the last time I saw a titmouse up there.
Phoebe and song sparrows at the summit. (But no humans.) Not as hazy as yesterday. Warmer, though.
Common yellowthroat (juvenile).
Warblers? You bet. Chestnut-sided, yellowthroat, and black-throated green. And a redstart back home.
Tonight it remains kind of warm out there. And still. In fact, compared to yesterday, today was calm as the doldrums. Just a little northwest wind, though—which direction struck me as odd today, considering the heat.
What a day, though, all in all. I absolutely loved it.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6 p.m., I hiked the wooded trails.
1. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
2. Eastern towhee
3. Cedar waxwing
4. Chestnut-sided warbler (voice)
5. American robin (voice)
6. Common yellowthroat
7. Gray catbird
8. Tufted titmouse
9. Song sparrow
10. Eastern phoebe
11. Veery (voice)
12. American goldfinch (voice)
13. Hermit thrush (voice)
14. Black-throated green warbler (voice)
15. Eastern wood-pewee (voice)
Elsewhere
16. American crow
17. Northern cardinal
18. Mourning dove
19. Herring gull
20. House sparrow
21. Chipping sparrow
22. House finch
23. American redstart
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black-throated green warbler, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, eastern wood-pewee, gray catbird, hermit thrush, herring gull, house finch, house sparrow, mourning dove, northern cardinal, red-eyed vireo, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery
