May 21, 2007 Birds Under the Canopy

A beautiful day but still cool. Low sixties and “overcast”. Actually it is a lovely sunny afternoon with a thin layer of high stratus clouds. The sun is bright above the leaves.

The woods hold Chestnut -sided and Canada Warblers. Wood Thrush and Veery are everywhere. Eastern wood Pewee too. On the far side of the summit Bluebirds deep in the woods. A bit out of place this far from the edge. Visibility is out to the horizon, or over 20 miles but it is hazy and detail is lost at about 10 miles. A male Wood Duck flushes from the ponds below the lookout. I need to check but I think he is new for my list here. I can see Common Green Darners over the water below and Common White tail comes whizzing up and into the woods as I look out over the woods and lake below.

Few people these days. Spring fever must have broken. Just 4 people in my whole circle of the summit, 3 of them running. My own legs feel springy and I climb with my weighted pack without difficulty. Even climbing the bigger hill and pushing hard I am barely out of breath. Time to add more weight, but also testament to the fact that a couple of days of rest sometimes improves overall fitness.

Coming back through the woods I flush a Woodcock out of a little wet spot. One has to be very close to a sitting Woodcock for it to flush, and in this case my foot had come down less than 18 inches from where the bird was sitting. Too close. Flushing a Woodcock does not startle like flushing a Ruffed Grouse. It is more a pleasant surprise, while flushing a Grouse is so noisy your heart skips a beat.