I awoke this early morning to the song of an ovenbird. Which is the ringtone of my cell phone. Which is my emergency phone. Which usually only rings if there’s been a server crash. Which there was this early morning. Happy to say it was a quick and easy fix. Happier still to have gone out with Jack at the same time a yellow warbler was singing. Two warblers.

Also a lowering sky and a tumultuous wind that made the forecast of possible thunderstorms seem particularly plausible. While at my desk soon after, I got to thinking about the suddenly tall grass of my front lawn and figured I ought to go out and mow during lunch-hour. Which I did. A windy mow.

Considering the online weather radar showed a line of  thunderstorms approaching, I thought probably Jack and I should hike Beech Hill a bit earlier than usual. Which we did. No one else up there. No birds, either. OK, that’s not completely true—I heard a goldfinch and a waxwing as we hurried up the hill, and I spotted a solitary robin fly down from a height into the crown of a tree. A patch of dark clouds loomed low over the inland hills, and mist covered Chickawaukie Lake to the southeast. Which is where the wind (like the radar storms) was coming from.

We hurried up and over the hill and down to where the blackberries grow. Still plenty of those. No birds down there. On our way back up and over, a shower arrived and we picked up our pace. Not a hard shower, and it let up quickly. But who knew what would follow? Or when exactly? I couldn’t really tell from the dark, diffuse sky.

Heard chickadees near the parking lot and saw a song sparrow flitting away as we exited. The heavier rain came within the hour.

And tonight, lightning. Thunder. Intermittently strong rain.

But I suppose that’s a mole hill compared to Hurricane Irene, due here over the weekend.

Beech Hill List
Beginning at 2:30 p.m., I hiked the open trail.

1. American goldfinch (voice)
2. Cedar waxwing (voice)
3. American robin
4. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
5. Song sparrow

Elsewhere

6. Yellow warbler
7. American crow
8. Herring gull
9. Mallard
10. Double-crested cormorant
11. Northern cardinal

Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, black-capped chickadee, Cedar waxwing, double-crested cormorant, herring gull, mallard, northern cardinal, song sparrow, yellow warbler

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 25th, 2011 at 10:54 pm and is filed under Lists, Observations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.