Yellow-rumped warbler.
From bed this morning, I heard the voices of titmice out my window. On my first trip out with Jack, I heard the soft calls of a nuthatch and the ever-present caws of crows. The day began sunny and cool and lovely.
Song sparrow.
And continued that way—although with a rising wind. Still nice enough to go cycling, I figured, and so I headed out for a vigorous ride. Coming south, into the wind, tested my endurance; going north was a gas. I passed crows stalking the roadsides. Gulls sailed in the semi-blue sky.
Come late-afternoon, Jack and I took off for our daily hike, with a quick stop at the grocery store. Driving out Route 17, I spotted two tight-packed rafts of coots out in Chickawaukie Lake, their motto being “safety in numbers.” Couple cars in the Beech Hill lot when we arrived, couple crows flapping around above us.
The wind had died down some as we hurried up. Beautiful sky of clear and cloud and light and color and shadow. Heard yellow-rumped warblers and chickadees and—kind of surprisingly—a singing cardinal down the southern slope. At the summit, the usual song sparrows flitted away from us, but I got a pretty good look at one, along with a pale fall yellow-rump.
Descending, I noticed I could make out the raft of Chickawaukie coots through my binoculars. Was tempted to add them to my Beech Hill list but thought better of it. Then we ran into our friend Sam coming up the trail and had a pleasant chat about hawks and woodcocks and mowing.
Spruce.
By the time we started down again, the orange October sun had just begun to disappear behind the ridge, below a great purple cloud. The hills glowed dully on account of it. The air smelled good. Our spirits were high.
Tonight has bright stars again. I broke out the spotting scope a little while ago to see how many Galilean moons I could count revolving around their planet. Three.
Now Orion is rising.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 4;45 p.m., I hiked the open trail.
1. American crow
2. Yellow-rumped warbler
3. Black-capped chickadee (voice)
4. Northern cardinal (voice)
5. Song sparrow
6. White-throated sparrow (voice)
7. American robin (voice)
8. Blue jay (voice)
Elsewhere
9. Tufted titmouse
10. White-breasted nuthatch
11. Herring gull
12. Rock pigeon
13. American coot
14. Mourning dove
Jack on the trail.
Tags: American coot, American crow, American robin, black-capped chickadee, blue jay, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, rock pigeon, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler
