Date: 4/25/25 9:34 am From: Ted Levin <tedlevin1966...> Subject: [VTBIRD] 25 April 2025: Hurricane Hill (1,100 feet), WRJ
5:14 a.m. (thirty-six minutes before sunrise). Robins already rule the
airways. Forty-six degrees, wind South-southeast two miles per hour,
gusting to three (not that I notice).
A dreamy skyscape, sparingly colored across the east. Hints of rose,
gridlocked elsewhere, a rumpled blue-gray congestion. Then, eastern clouds
fracture and colorize—at first, a warm bloom of pastel peach and pink,
condensing into lines of neon orange. One thin, longitudinal cloud,
yellowish and arced like a foreshortened rainbow, condenses in the
southeast and then vanishes. The sun peeks above the New Hampshire skyline
at 5:58 a.m., momentarily tangerine.
Then, a bouillabaisse of sunlight, rich and spicy, seeps across Vermont
igniting the sparse flowers red maple, bright spots along the meadow's
edge, a dusting of color. Tree-trunk lichens glow. By 6:04 a.m., isles of
immaculately white cloud scud across the west. Hemlocks and pines, vibrant.
Coltsfoot, everywhere and goldfinch bright.
Several aspen catkins float straight down like fuzzy, dehydrated
caterpillars.
Sugar maple buds ready to open. Ash buds buttoned up. Birch catkins,
tubular and tight.
*The Urgency of Spring:*
5:29 a.m.: phoebes join the robin chorus.
5:30 a.m.: barred owl signs off and chickadees sign in.
5:33 a.m.: white-throated sparrow tentatively sings a clipped version of *Ol'
Sam Peabody*, more like *Ol' Sam*
5:37 a.m.: winter wren, tufted titmouse, and dark-eyed junco take their
seats in the Daybreak Orchestra.
5:40 a.m.: red-breasted nuthatch joins in.
5:38 a.m.: yellow-bellied sapsucker, more tinkle than drum, a stuttering
Woodland Morse Code. Pileated assaults a
tree, then laughs.
5:43 a.m.: Joining the dawn chorus: chipping and song sparrows, pine
siskins, white-breasted nuthatches,
5:57 a.m.: blue jays and crows mouth off ... a Corvid discord.
6:04 a.m.: red-bellied woodpecker calls (reminds me of sunrise in the
Florida Everglades). Downy woodpecker rushes drum beats as if late for an
appointment.
6:09 a.m.: yellow-bellied sapsucker and a hairy woodpecker vie for the same
resonant limb, a barkless, vertical maple branch. Hairy persues sapsucker
around the limb, yelling. Vanquished, sapsucker retreats into the
woods, tail feathers between his legs.
6:14 a.m.: *northern* house wren, tiny motor-mouthed songbird. Name changed
... but not voice.
6:22 a.m.: northern flicker laughs, then drums, a silhouette against the
sky. Laughing louder than rapping.
*Post-sunrise cameos: *pine warbler; hermit thrush; purple and house
finches; ruby-crowned and golden-crowned kinglets; cedar waxwing; swamp
sparrow; brown-headed cowbird; myrtle warblers (FOY); brown creeper,
whispering in the pines.
Three downy woodpeckers in a red maple, two males and a female, a courting
pair and a pest. The second male interrupts nuptials ... doesn't take no
for an answer. The primary male chases the interloper. Woodpecker
ringoleveo, two teams of one. The female waits for the victor, sun on her
back.
*Department of Two-way Traffic: *three crows and a raven cross the sky in
opposite directions. Northbound crows low. Southbound raven high, an
associate of the clouds. Surprise, surprise, both species have something to
say.
