Date: 4/26/25 4:16 pm From: Rita Pitkin <ritapitkin15...> Subject: Re: [VTBIRD] 25 April 2025: Hurricane Hill (1,100 feet), WRJ
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On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 12:34 PM Ted Levin <tedlevin1966...> wrote:
> 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.
>
